


Come on, come on, spin a little tighter

by voices_in_my_head



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Falling In Love, Satori is my bae - you'll realize it soon, ignores everything after S3 because I don't follow the manga, so they're still 3rd years in highschool, takes place not too long after the Shiratorizawa vs Karasuno match
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2019-07-14 12:52:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16040852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: "“I still believe that you and I would have made a frightening combo,” Oikawa opened his mouth but Wakatoshi didn’t let him speak, “however, I have realized that the way I have expressed that over the years was not only unnecessary, but cruel as well.” He bowed, “for that, you have my sincere apologies.”"Or: after the match against Karasuno, Ushijima realizes that he's been acting like a dick to Oikawa for several years and in true Ushijima fashion decides to made amends. Yes, even if that means a piggy back ride.





	1. Come on, come on, move a little closer

**Author's Note:**

> *Shows up three years late with Starbucks*
> 
> Oops, ushioi is one of my biggest OTPs and yet it's taken me all these years to finally write something for them. At least it's long-ish. Enjoy :) The next and final part will hopefully be up in the near future; just gotta finish editing.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the match that Shiratorizawa had lost against Karasuno, the one that made it impossible for Wakatoshi to play in a national match for the last time during his volleyball high school career, that kept playing inside his mind over and over again during the following weeks. No, instead, Wakatoshi thought back on the words he had uttered to Oikawa the last time they had seen each other.

Some people might expect him to feel embarrassed at what he had said; he had, after all, been proven wrong. It wasn’t one match that determined the strongest team in the district forever, but for the time being, Karasuno had shown itself superior. Yet, at the time, Wakatoshi had believed his words absolute. He had been proven wrong, but that was in hindsight.

So, it wasn’t embarrassment that clouded his thoughts pretty much every woken moment, even though he had exams coming up and continued on a very strict training regime, even having left the team.

No, instead it was something that Wakatoshi was barely familiar with: shame.

Because two days after the match Wakatoshi had woken up before his alarm had rung and had thought, “how would it have felt if Kiryu or Sakusa had come to tell me after the match that I made a mistake going to Shiratorizawa, disregarding not just my hard work but insulting every single one of my teammates?” and of course, the reply hadn’t taken more than a few seconds to form in his mind, “awful.”

That had been purely hypothetical, anyway. Wakatoshi barely knew either of those two players besides the fact that they were ranked as better players than him, and it didn’t seem like something either would say, anyhow. But it was something that Wakatoshi had said and it were terrible words that he had inflicted upon Oikawa, over and over again.

Of course, Wakatoshi’s intent had never been to make Oikawa feel terrible. No, he had just wanted the setter to believe that Wakatoshi found him an incredible player and that he thought he could have been one of the best in Shiratorizawa. Oikawa had never seen it that way and Wakatoshi could finally see why.

Wakatoshi had never made him feel amazing. No, instead he had belittled him. Had thrown his defeat in his face and then insulted him and team mates.

Shame was not something Wakatoshi was accustomed to and he would have very much liked to keep it that way.

But now that the feeling had found its way inside his brain, it simply would not go away.

At the beginning, Wakatoshi had only thought of it in the early hours of the morning, when it was still dark outside and everything felt a bit distorted, like things that took place at those times of day shouldn’t count like normal things.

It kept popping up, though. And as October gave place to November, Wakatoshi could barely go one hour without thinking “I did something horrible.”

Usually, Wakatoshi wasn’t one to simply sit on his feelings. He’d never seen the point of it; if he felt something, then surely, he should act on it. If he thought a team mate was playing better than usual, he immediately told them that and the same thing if they played worse. Always with the same intent: to make them better. Tell them he noticed when they put in the effort and when they didn’t and should have.

In this case, however, Wakatoshi didn’t think that a simple apology would suffice. That was, of course, if Oikawa even deigned to hear him out. Every time Wakatoshi imagined approaching Oikawa he just saw the other quickly walking away without letting him say even one word, more often than not sticking his tongue out. Right now, Wakatoshi wouldn’t even have called him childish for it.

But this was becoming unbearable and even his friends were noticing. They probably had noticed earlier but they were a group of independent people; they usually gave each other time to work things by themselves and more often than not, it worked. When it didn’t, they were always there for each other, though. Like now.

“Is everything okay, Wakatoshi?” Reon asked, putting down his tray in front of Wakatoshi’s.

Wakatoshi stared at him for a few seconds. Reon just stared back, not looking down at his food. Satori and Eita were still waiting for their food while Hayato was walking towards them. Since the last training session, the third years who had retired usually ate separate from the rest of the team. Then again, this had been happening since the beginning of the year, though at least Goshiki had been known to join them once in a while.

“I will wait for the others. I don’t like repeating myself,” Wakatoshi finally settled on and Reon nodded, finally turning to his food.

Hayato sat next to him in silence and by the time Satori and Eita joined them, one more noisily than the other, Wakatoshi had already eaten a big portion of his own food.

“Man, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to eat today. Was the lunch lady always this slow?” Satori asked around the table.

“I think it’s just you she doesn’t like,” Eita said and then glared, “I’m never waiting for food next to you again.”

“I’m hurt, Eita-chan,” Satori received a glare for that but paid it no mind, “I thought our friendship was stronger than the waiting queue for lunch.”

Eita continued to glare, “our friendship is barely strong enough to hold for every time you open your mouth.”

Satori’s eyes widened though Wakatoshi could see the smirk in his lips. Satori loved nothing more than to push people’s buttons and they usually went along with it, since he very rarely crossed the line. At least when he did he was grown up enough to realize and apologize for it.

Satori opened his mouth to reply with something scathing, Wakatoshi had no doubt, but now that he had set his mind on telling his friends what had been bothering him for the past few weeks, he did not want to take up any more time. “I have been treating Oikawa horrible for the past few years.”

Everyone on the table stopped what they were doing. Satori still had his mouth open, Reon had stopped chewing, Hayato was frowning and Eita turned his head to Wakatoshi.

“How?” He finally asked.

“As you know, after every match I tell him that he should have come to Shiratorizawa.”

They all nodded.

“It’s tradition,” Satori said with a smirk.

“I’ve always been surprised at how he’s never punched you,” Eita offered.

“Until the match with Karasuno I would not have understood that. But now…”

“You realize it was a shitty thing to say?” Satori asked, in a fakery concerned tone. Not that he couldn’t be concerned when the mood struck him, but this wasn’t the case. Right now, he was more amused than anything. Luckily Wakatoshi had other friends to help him with this.

“I do,” Wakatoshi answered and Reon finally swallowed what he had in his mouth. He continued to stare silently at Wakatoshi, though.

On his right, Eita sighed and passed a hand through his hair, “I always thought that it was a… tactless thing to say but it’s like Satori said: it’s tradition. He probably stopped caring after the first couple times.”

“I…” Wakatoshi started and not only did he not continue right away, but he felt himself blush. Of course, that once again brought the table’s attention to him.

“Wakkun?” Satori asked and Wakatoshi recognized the tone. He’d smelled blood and was coming for it. It wasn’t a tone Wakatoshi had ever heard directed to him; as with a lot of things the past few weeks, he could have lived his whole life that way.

“That is not the only thing I told him the last time I saw him.”

Reon blinked, Hayato passed a hand through his face, Eita made a despairing sound and Satori just leaned forward on his seat. He was smiling, “oh?”

Wakatoshi looked down at his plate but forced himself to look back up as he responded. He didn’t need to be brought even lower, “I told him that his worthless pride was the only thing stopping him from achieving greatness.”

Eita’s despairing sound rose in volume while Hayato dropped his head onto the table. Both actions called the attention of the table closest to them, but they lost interest when nothing else came forth. Reon blinked again and Satori leaned back, satisfied that he’d gotten what he wanted.

“I know sometimes social cues escape you, Wakatoshi, but that was pretty damn rude,” Eita said and Wakatoshi felt the blush intensify.

“I know, I just…”

“You weren’t thinking straight,” Satori cut in. “You usually don’t, around Oikawa-chan.”

Wakatoshi frowned at that, and even harder when everyone at the table nodded at that. Since Hayato still had his forehead against the table, he made a little “ow” sound when it dropped back onto the table. He straightened, pressing a hand against his forehead for a few moments before lowering it.

“I don’t understand,” Wakatoshi said, turning his attention back to Satori, who sent him a pitying look. Contrary to his “I smell blood” look, this one, the “I know something you don’t,” was a look Wakatoshi had been receiving almost weekly for the past three years, so he didn’t feel that bothered by it.

“Well, when one little boy likes another little boy very-“ Satori was cut mid-sentence when Eita rose from his chair just high enough to hit him over the head. It made a pretty big slap sound. “Ow! That was uncalled for,” Satori said, sticking out his tongue. Eita just glared.

“Your face is uncalled for.”

Satori glared and once again, Wakatoshi started talking before the two of them could digress into another one of their endless arguments. “I still don’t understand what you mean.”

“He means that you always acted differently around Oikawa,” Reon said confidently, though he lost some of that confident look when Wakatoshi turned his full attention to him, frowning once again. Next to him, Hayato looked divided on whether he wanted to look amused or frustrated.

“It is true that he is the only player that I have ever said should have come to Shiratorizawa but-“

“How many other players have you also insulted? I know you can be pretty oblivious and have said some mean things without meaning to but even you’re not that dense. What you said to Oikawa-chan was pretty rude, and that’s coming from me,” Satori said.

This time, Wakatoshi didn’t reply right away, thinking through his words. It was true that even at the time, Wakatoshi knew that calling Oikawa’s pride childish and worthless was something that would hurt, but he thought he had been saying it in the hopes that Oikawa would think harder in his future; not just go where his best friend was, but where he could become the best.

Had he instead been aiming to hurt? Because Oikawa always threw his words back in his face, never once showing an ounce of regret for what could have been?

Wakatoshi frowned. Then he relaxed his face and passed his eyes from friend to friend. “How should I apologize?”

Satori, Reon, Hayato and Eita exchanged glances. It was Reon who started in a voice full of pauses, “I’m not sure Oikawa-san is that willing to accept an apology…”

“I have thought of that and you are probably correct. I still want to make amends.”

“Well, for you or for him?” Satori asked.

“What do you mean?”

Satori stared at him intensely, “do you want to apologize to make yourself feel better or do you want to apologize to make him feel better?”

“Are they not both the same? If he feels better, I will feel better,” Wakatoshi replied, thinking it obvious.

Satori shrugged, “not really. I mean, what if he doesn’t accept your apology? You’ll feel better for having said it but he’ll continue not having closure.”

Wakatoshi opened his mouth but closed it before any words came out. The thing with Satori was that he knew people really well; unfortunately, he usually used that knowledge to bring them down, not up.

Right now, Wakatoshi didn’t mind his bluntness. In fact, he had always liked that about Satori. He could be mean, but at least he was honest and meant what he said.

“I want to give him closure,” Wakatoshi finally settled on. “I shouldn’t feel better from an apology if he doesn’t.”

Satori smiled, “now, we’re getting somewhere.”

Wakatoshi should have probably felt fear at that smile. As it was, he only felt determination in seeing this through.

.

When Wakatoshi approached Aoba Josai, classes had been finished for several hours, and even most clubs had sent its members home. Yet, even though like every third year – except those in Karasuno – Oikawa had retired from his high school sports club, Wakatoshi thought it was very likely that he would find him practicing after the gym had emptied of the regular club members.

Wakatoshi had only been to Aoba Josai once in his life; the previous year, for a practice match. As he retraced his steps – he had a good sense of direction and didn’t usually forget paths he had taken before – Wakatoshi tried not to think of that match.

Whether it was for practice or not, Shiratorizawa did not play an easy game against its opponents. And to be fair, most teams they played against tried to at the very least, give as good as they got.

Aoba Josai had always been one of the best at it. No member in that team ever gave up until the last whistle, even if half the times it was simply because Oikawa did not allow his team members to despair.

It was one of the many things that Wakatoshi had always respected in Oikawa and that afternoon, he had told him so.

Of course, afterwards he had added, “you would not need to stop your team members from breaking if you had come to Shiratorizawa”. Thinking back on it made him feel ashamed. Oikawa had just lost – taking it as hard as he would have an official match, Wakatoshi had seen in his face – and right after genuinely complimenting him, Wakatoshi simply had to keep going.

What was it about Oikawa that brought that out in him? In hindsight, Wakatoshi could see that some of the things he had said to Oikawa over the years had not just been uncalled for, but outright cruel. Wakatoshi could be many things, but he had never thought himself cruel.

No wonder Oikawa had always been so pissed off just at the sight of his face.

Wakatoshi forced himself out of those thoughts as he approached the gym. The door was ajar and he heard the sound of a powerful serve. It didn’t necessarily mean it was Oikawa but Wakatoshi’s heart still gave a jolt.

His footsteps became slower as he approached. After a few seconds, he heard another ball hit the floor. He stood silently just out of sight – and unable to see the interior himself – as whoever was inside kept hitting the balls with strength.

When a longer pause came – the person inside was probably putting the balls back in the cart – Wakatoshi finally moved so that he could see inside, though he still hoped not to be caught immediately. If it wasn’t Oikawa, then the best thing would be for him to leave just as he had first come – unnoticed.

It was Oikawa. As suspected, he was slowly picking up the balls. Wakatoshi could only see him from the side, but he looked different than usual. Directed at him, Wakatoshi had only seen Oikawa frown or glare, but with his teammates he had seen him laugh, mock, even cry.

He’d never seen him so calm, though. With the last ball in his hands, Oikawa took a deep breath and raised the ball almost to eye level, thrusting it against his forehead. He stood like that for some seconds and Wakatoshi knew Oikawa would hate it if he knew he was being watched in what could be called a vulnerable moment, yet Wakatoshi didn’t want to ruin the quietness around them.

So, he took a few steps back, no longer being able to be spotted from the inside. Now that he knew Oikawa was the one in the gym, all he had to do was wait. It wouldn’t do to disturb his practice or, more importantly, approach him somewhere he couldn’t easily leave.

Wakatoshi very much wanted to be heard out, but he thought that he had already spoken to Oikawa without any regard for his feelings enough. If Oikawa wanted to leave without giving him a chance, Wakatoshi was determined to respect that decision.

Wakatoshi thought that perhaps Oikawa would serve some more, but all that he heard was the cart being wheeled again. It took another fifteen minutes for Oikawa to leave the gym, wearing regular clothes and with his hair still drying from the shower.

Since Wakatoshi was leaning against the door, Oikawa did not notice him and started walking away, whistling something.

“Oikawa,” Wakatoshi called for him and immediately Oikawa not only tensed up, but actually gave a little jump. Wakatoshi felt a little guilty; surely there must have been a way to get Oikawa’s attention without scaring him.

Oikawa turned around, widening his eyes when he spotted exactly who it was waiting for him. It didn’t take look for his bafflement to turn to irritation. He glowered, “well, well, well, if it isn’t Ushiwaka-chan. What brings you here? Don’t tell me you’re here to tell me that Shiratorizawa wouldn’t have lost against Karasuno if I had been there?”

“No, I can’t guarantee that,” Wakatoshi started and Oikawa rolled his eyes. “Besides, it would be insulting to my teammates to believe that a different team member could have won the match,” at that, Oikawa did look surprised. Then he went back to glowering.

“Oh, so you don’t like insulting your teammates but you don’t mind insulting others’? Or maybe I’m just special.”

Wakatoshi didn’t reply right away. He had practiced his apology – several times with Reon – but now that the time had come, he suddenly felt tight lipped. It wasn’t a sensation he was used to, and he didn’t like it.

“I came to apologize,” he finally settled on and Oikawa raised both eyebrows.

“Oh? Don’t tell me losing finally made you realize that you were incredibly big-headed every time you told me I should have joined you in Shiratorizawa?” Oikawa was back to glaring.

“No. I mean yes. I mean…” Wakatoshi frowned at himself. Now that he wasn’t tight-lipped, he was blabbering. He’d never done this before.

Oikawa raised an eyebrow at him and smirked, though Wakatoshi could see him looking slightly uncertain, “oh, don’t tell me the great Ushiwaka can be brought down that easily?”

“No,” Wakatoshi answered, this time determinedly. “I still believe that you and I would have made a frightening combo,” Oikawa opened his mouth but Wakatoshi didn’t let him speak, “however, I have realized that the way I have expressed that over the years was not only unnecessary, but cruel as well.” He bowed, “for that, you have my sincere apologies.”

Wakatoshi stared at Oikawa’s shoes, waiting for a reply. When none came after several seconds, he raised his head enough that he was capable of seeing Oikawa.

Oikawa was staring at him with his mouth open. Wakatoshi was sure he had never seen him look like that, not even when he had given some of his strongest spikes.

Wakatoshi straightened up, “Oikawa?”

Oikawa blinked several times. Then he seemed to remember himself and went back to glaring, crossing his arms. “So what, the great Ushiwaka finally realized that he was being a dick and I’m just supposed to forgive and forget?”

“No. I understand that a simple apology is not enough to atone for my actions. For that reason, I would like to make amends.”

Oikawa narrowed his eyes. “Amends?”

Wakatoshi nodded, “yes,” he paused, “you set the terms.”

Oikawa raised an eyebrow. Then he smirked, reminding Wakatoshi eerily of Satori and him and Iwaizumi had only ever seen eye to eye in one thing –Tendo Satori and Oikawa Tooru should be kept away from each other as far as possible at all times.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Ushiwaka-chan? Aren’t you afraid I’ll use this opportunity to… oh, I don’t know, make you run naked around school?”

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t ask me to do anything that might jeopardize my future or get me in trouble with the police, but aside from that, as I said, you set the terms.”

“What if I want you to give me a piggy ride home?”

Wakatoshi nodded, “then I’ll do it.”

Oikawa stared at him for a few seconds. He seemed to be debating what expression to go for, quickly going through several. Wakatoshi didn’t catch enough glimpses of them all to start understanding what Oikawa was thinking, but he definitely saw irritation there.

“Okay then. Give me a piggy back home,” Oikawa finally settled on and Wakatoshi approached him. Once they were close, he turned back and squatted.

When nothing happened after several moments he turned his head back to Oikawa, “what?”

Oikawa was looking surprised at him. Then he laughed, but it sounded more defeated than anything. Wakatoshi didn’t enjoy the sound.

Oikawa shook his head, “I can’t believe this,” he muttered but it was in a low tone, so Wakatoshi assumed it was more for himself than for him, remaining silent. “Turn back, then,” Oikawa said and Wakatoshi did as told.

This time, it wasn’t long before he felt a weight on his back. Slowly, he got up, grabbing onto Oikawa’s legs and feeling him wrap his arms loosely around his neck.

Truth be told, Wakatoshi had been expecting something far worse for his first act of retribution. Besides, he couldn’t say that he minded either the warmth around his body, or the slow exhales of breath he felt against his ear.

.

After Wakatoshi had left Oikawa in front of his house – after hearing “I better not find you stalking me, Ushikawa-chan!” because Oikawa wouldn’t be Oikawa if he didn’t say something along those lines – Oikawa gave him his phone for Wakatoshi to put his number in, smiling and saying “so I can call you when I need another piggy back ride.”

Wakatoshi had just nodded and done as told. When he’d passed the phone back, Oikawa had narrowed his eyes, “you’re going to regret this, Ushiwaka.”

Wakatoshi had shrugged, “I regret the words I said to you. It’s only right that I make it up to you.”

Apparently, that had left Oikawa speechless, because he had just stared at Wakatoshi in silence for some seconds before blowing a raspberry and turning around to open his door. “Wait for my text!” Oikawa had turned to tell him, and then he was gone and Wakatoshi was walking back to Shiratorizawa alone.

Satori had told Wakatoshi that this would probably happen: Oikawa was going to pay him back in the pettiest ways possible. Eita, Reon and Hayato had just nodded along and even Wakatoshi had known that this was the most likely outcome. Yet, as he had told Oikawa, he was prepared to do whatever it took to make amends as long as it didn’t include anything illegal.

Giving Oikawa a piggy back ride back home might have felt embarrassing for others but for Wakatoshi it had felt like a start. Well, and also like back pain, since the trip hadn’t been that short.

Two days later, when Oikawa finally texted him, the back pain had disappeared, but not the content feeling, so Wakatoshi didn’t feel any fear opening the text.

 _“I’m craving a milk bread,”_ short and to the point. Wakatoshi, who very rarely indulged in sweets without accounting the calories and how much he’d have to work out to make sure they didn’t ruin his diet, had no idea what a milk bread was.

Because he didn’t want to incur Oikawa’s wrath so soon, he posted a message on the skype chat Satori had created back in first year with the two of them plus Eita, Reon and Hayato.

_“Is milk bread different from normal bread?”_

Satori’s reply was instant, even though class hadn’t been over for long and he had told them he was planning on spending the next few months cramming as much as possible.

_“OMG Waka of course why are u like this”_

Wakatoshi had unfortunately gotten used over the years to Satori’s lack of punctuation and even shortening of words. At least he didn’t usually use the strange emoticons that had led Wakatoshi to google every couple of seconds.

 _“Oikawa wants one. I don’t know where to find one,”_ he messaged back and once again, the message “NoodleBoy is typing” had barely appeared before Satori had responded.

_“its nothing special u can find it in any supermarket”_

Pleased, Wakatoshi nodded at his phone. Then, realizing they were texting and not in a video chat, he posted a thank you message.

_“ur welcome!!!!! Dont let oika-chan tire you too much!!!!”_

Wakatoshi had no idea what Satori’s point was, so he simply logged off and went in search of a milk bread.

It was around half an hour later, when Wakatoshi was paying for two milk breads – he thought he might as well give it a shot – that he received another text from Oikawa.

_“Have you forgotten your promise???”_

_“No, I went to buy the milk bread. Where should we meet?”_ Wakatoshi texted back after he was holding the bag with the bread. He was standing outside the shop, since he didn’t think it was safe to walk and text. For him and for others.

 _“Outside Seijo. I shouldn’t be the one making an effort to find you_!!” Oikawa replied and Wakatoshi nodded at his phone. That was fair; he was the one making amends after all.

_“That is fair. I will be there in half an hour.”_

Wakatoshi didn’t wait for a reply before he went to search for the bus that would leave him the closest to Seijo. He wouldn’t make it in time if he walked and as Oikawa had pointed out, he shouldn’t be the one making an effort. He probably just wanted the snack before going to practice. It wasn’t a healthy one and Wakatoshi was of half a mind to tell him that. But he knew that that wouldn’t go well so he forced the thought out of his mind during the ride there.

He was around five minutes earlier from expected when he was reaching Seijo, but Oikawa was already there. He was not alone.

“See? I told you, Iwa-chan, Ushiwaka is doing everything I say!” He crossed his arms, “he wants to apologize for all the shitty things he said over the years.”

Iwaizumi sent an unimpressed look Oikawa’s way, “it’s not like you didn’t give as good as you got.”

Oikawa turned his frown to him, “that’s not the point!”

“I don’t care,” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and Wakatoshi was sure that wouldn’t be the end, but as he was finally close enough to the both of them that a passerby would think they were together, Oikawa turned back to him.

“Where’s my milk bread, Ushiwaka-chan?”

As per usual, Wakatoshi didn’t let the nickname get to him. He still didn’t appreciate it and he would never understand how Oikawa had gotten half the country to know him by it, but he knew a losing fight when he saw one. Besides, Oikawa would just say it more often if he showed how much he disliked it.

“Here you go,” Wakatoshi said, passing him a milk bread from the bag. Then he turned to Iwaizumi, “would you like one? While my worst comments have been said to Oikawa, I understand if you would like me to make amends to you too.”

Oikawa stopped with the milk bread halfway to his open mouth, while Iwaizumi just blinked a couple times.

“Uh, no, that’s okay, I…” Iwaizumi shared a look with Oikawa. They seemed to be having a silent conversation, not unlike those Wakatoshi sometimes had with Satori. Though more often than not it was just him trying to get Satori to actually use his numerous abilities in a match than anything else. He got the impression that Iwaizumi and Oikawa were capable of conversing without any words about basically anything.

Iwaizumi sighed before turning back to Wakatoshi, “look, Ushijima, I know you said some pretty shitty things about our team but… it’s water under the bridge. I know you’re not a bad guy.”

“Thank you,” Wakatoshi slightly bowed his head to him, “I’m sorry it took me this long to realize how abhorrent my behavior was over the years.”

Once again, Iwaizumi didn’t seem to know how to react to that. After another shared glance with Oikawa, he sighed again, “seriously, don’t sweat it. You said shitty things, we said shitty things… Let’s just move on.”

“Don’t be mistaken, Ushiwaka-chan! Just because Iwa-chan forgives you, doesn’t mean I do!” Oikawa immediately butted in, to which Wakatoshi nodded to.

“Of course.”

Iwaizumi hit the back of Oikawa’s head and, ignoring his “ouch Iwa-chan, that hurt!” he kept looking at Wakatoshi, “you don’t actually have to do what he says. It’s not like you ran over his dog.”

Wakatoshi knew that wasn’t the point but… “You have a dog?” He turned to Oikawa, not completely being able to pretend he wasn’t excited at the prospect. He loved dogs.

“No,” Oikawa said, surprised at the turn of events.

“Oh,” Wakatoshi said and once again couldn’t hide the disappointment. He didn’t let it linger, however, turning his attention back to Iwaizumi, “I understand what you’re saying but it’s okay. I really do want to atone.”

Iwaizumi stared at him for a few seconds before sighing, “don’t come running to me when this ends in tears.”

Wakatoshi frowned, “why would it end in tears?” He turned to Oikawa, “you’re not planning anything illegal, are you? We have discussed this.”

Oikawa and Iwaizumi shared another glance. This time, for reasons unknown, it did bother Wakatoshi a bit to be left out of the loop.

“Good luck,” Iwaizumi said, staring at Oikawa, who turned with a smile to Wakatoshi. It didn’t really leave him feeling confident, not when he remembered that smile from all the times Oikawa had made sure to give him his most powerful serve.

“Don’t worry, Ushiwaka-chan! There will be no tears!”

Wakatoshi wasn’t sure he believed him but since there wasn’t much he could do about it, he decided to take his words at face value and nodded.

“Text me whenever you want something else,” he said and nodding to the both of them again, started walking away.

He could hear Oikawa and Iwaizumi whispering to one another, but he paid them no mind, instead picking up his own milk bread.

It was a bit too sweet for his tastes but he could see why Oikawa liked it.

.

It was Friday night and Wakatoshi had just started reading a book about magic that Satori had lent him when he received a text. He wasn’t surprised when he picked it up and saw it had come from Oikawa.

_“Tomorrow I’m helping my nephew’s volleyball team practice. You’re coming with me.”_

The first thing Wakatoshi thought about was how he hadn’t been aware Oikawa had a sibling old enough to already have children. It was strange to realize how much he really didn’t know about Oikawa, even though they had known each other for at least six years. Yet, aside from a few practice matches here and there and the few times they got to play against each other in a championship, they really had never spoken to each other that much.

It just struck home how much Wakatoshi had been judging Oikawa with barely any thought to who he really was, to why he’d made the choices he had. It made him feel guilty and so, he didn’t mind in the least that Oikawa hadn’t made it a request or even asked him his availability.

 _“I’ll be there. How old is he and where do you meet?”_ Wakatoshi wrote back slowly. His mobile was far too small for his fingers and he didn’t want to send a message with typing errors, even though he doubted Oikawa would care for longer than the time it took to mock him about it.

_“His name is Takeru and he’s eleven years old. The school isn’t too far from Aoba Josai, so meet me there at 9am.”_

Wakatoshi was halfway to writing a reply – _“I’m looking forward to it”_ – when he received another text, _“don’t scare the children with your frown!!!!”_

Immediately, Wakatoshi couldn’t help a frown from appearing in his face, though he forcefully put it away. He did not have much experience with children, but he didn’t think he was particularly bad. He just hadn’t had much of a chance to be around them.

 _“I’ll try not to,”_ he sent back and didn’t get a reply, not that he much expected to. It wasn’t like he and Oikawa were friends.

Wakatoshi tried to go back to his book, but after spending five minutes in the same page – and not because it was in English, since his level of the language was quite high – he finally closed it and put it on his headstand. Now he couldn’t stop worrying about messing up around the children. The thought that he would be disappointing Oikawa wouldn’t leave him alone either, even though he was sure Oikawa would love to see him embarrass himself.

But there was a difference between doing something embarrassing and possibly scaring a child barely older than ten for life.

As with most things that left Wakatoshi uncertain, he turned back to the group chat. It was getting late but he was sure that at least Satori and Eita would be online. No matter how much he tried, they simply didn’t seem to get the point of a healthy sleeping schedule.

 _“Tomorrow I’m helping Oikawa coach his nephew’s volleyball team_ ,” Wakatoshi posted and the replies didn’t take long enough for him to even go and think of doing something else.

 _“he has a newphew!!????”_ That was Satori.

 _“Yea, I didn’t know that either. But I guess it’s not surprising; we don’t really know him that well, after all. His sibling must be really older,”_ Eita wrote.

 _“Don’t scare the kids_ ,” Reon wrote and Wakatoshi frowned at that. So, Oikawa hadn’t simply been saying it for the sake of it; people really did think he could scare children away.

 _“How do I not do that?”_ Wakatoshi sent back.

 _“do what???”_ Satori asked.

 _“Not scare the kids.”_ Wakatoshi replied and this time the replies took longer, with pauses in the little messages Skype put up about someone writing.

 _“Wakkun, ur not actually that scary!!!”_ Was the first reply he got, from Satori. While he appreciated the sentiment, he really did need tips.

_“I have never spent much time around children. I don’t know how to act around them.”_

_“Just be nice. Like, even if they’re the worst volleyball player you’ve ever seen, do not tell them that under any circumstance. Tell them they’re doing a nice job,”_ Reon wrote and that was fair. Personally, Wakatoshi wouldn’t have minded if at ten years old someone had told him he was bad at volleyball and to stop – what was the point of keeping at something that would never get him anywhere? But most people were not like that and it would not do to hurt Oikawa’s nephew’s feelings, or any other child around, for that matter.

 _“That is good advice.”_ He wrote back.

 _“Don’t spike into their faces,”_ Hayato wrote. _“I’m serious, you’ll kill one of them.”_

Wakatoshi frowned; now he wasn’t even sure if he should pick up a volleyball when he was in the gym.

 _“u’ll be fine, Toshi. Frown less, smile more, compliment them and don’t kill anyone. Simple and easy to rmmember,”_ Satori concluded and Wakatoshi took a deep breath.

Four things to remember. He could do this.

.

Once again, Wakatoshi was at least five minutes earlier than the time they had agreed, but Oikawa was already standing there, talking to a boy several years younger. Supposedly the nephew, Takeru.

Wakatoshi approached them slowly, repeating over and over again inside his mind “don’t frown, don’t frown.” He knew he was supposed to smile and it wasn’t like he was against smiling, it simply wasn’t something that came easily to him. Usually it was people or situations around him that brought it out, not just him wanting to do it. He thought not frowning would be at least a step in the right direction.

“Hello,” Wakatoshi said once he was close enough to be heard without yelling and both Oikawas turned to him, weirdly similar.

“Ushikawa-chan, you’re late!” Oikawa immediately said and normally Wakatoshi would have argued, but as it was, he decided to just let it go. He seemed to be doing that a lot around Oikawa.

“You must be Oikawa Takeru. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Wakatoshi said to Takeru and bowed slightly to him.

The little boy stared at him for a few seconds, in awe, before he seemed to collect himself, “it’s Yamazaki Takeru! My mom is Touru’s sister. And you’re Ushikawa-san! Your spikes are amazing!”

Wakatoshi gave him a small smile, barely a lifting of the corners of his lips, “I’m sorry for getting your name mistaken. And thank you.”

Takeru smiled back, far bigger than anything Wakatoshi ever did, showing off his teeth. “Can you teach me how to spike?”

“Now, now, Take-chan, if you wanted to learn to spike, I could have brought Iwa-chan.”

Takeru turned to Oikawa, though it took him a few seconds to speak, “Iwa-san is amazing but… he’s not like Ushiwaka-san.”

Oikawa looked like he’d been hit. “Why, you little-“

“Iwaizumi-san is a great spiker and I’m sure he could teach you a lot,” Wakatoshi cut in and Takeru turned to him, sad, so he quickly continued, “but of course, I see no problem in teaching you as well. That is why I’m here.”

“Yes!” Takeru exclaimed and then turned to Oikawa, “you’re not going to be embarrassing again, are you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean!? Your uncle is never embarrassing! He is the most charming person-“

“Last time you made me take a picture of you and your kouhai bowing to you. And you’re talking in third person again. Grandmother says that’s weird.”

Oikawa narrowed his eyes and Wakatoshi was afraid Takeru would become nervous or afraid from that expression, but he just stared dispassionately back. Apparently, he was more than used to Oikawa’s shenanigans.

“You didn’t even take a good picture! I was all blurry,” Wakatoshi couldn’t believe his eyes but he was pretty sure that was a pout he was seeing in Oikawa’s face.

Takeru just shrugged back and Wakatoshi felt this was a good time to cut in, “should we start going? I don’t want Takeru-kun to be late to practice.”

“Yeah, uncle, I don’t want to be late!” Takeru repeated, turning back to Oikawa, who quickly looked between the two of them before making a tskk sound and shaking his head, as if disappointed.

“The two of you ganging up against me… What has poor, beautiful Oikawa Tooru ever done to deserve this?”

Wakatoshi genuinely had no idea how to respond so he remained silent. Takeru laughed.

“You’re funny, uncle. Now, come on, time to go!” Takure didn’t wait for a response and grabbing onto Oikawa’s wrist, started quickly walking right, hopefully to the direction of the gym.

Before he’d taken more than two steps Oikawa grabbed onto Wakatoshi’s wrist, making him follow along. Oikawa turned back to stare at him.

“’Don’t want you getting lost.”

Instead of telling Oikawa about his great sense of direction, Wakatoshi decided to remain silent, enjoying the press of Oikawa’s fingers on his wrist. It was warm and he immediately recalled how it had felt to have Oikawa press against his back.

The day must be sunnier than expected because he could feel himself getting red in the face.

It didn’t take long to reach the gym and just as Takeru never let go of Oikawa, neither did Oikawa let go of Wakatoshi, who by the end of the trek was starting to have dangerous thoughts about how it would feel to hold Oikawa’s hand.

Luckily, Oikawa let go to open the door of the gym before Wakatoshi could fully get into those thoughts.

For a Saturday morning, the gym was pretty packed. Wakatoshi could hear what he was sure was a swimming class for children and the buzzing of electrical machines through a door and maybe a basketball being dribbled.

Oikawa didn’t stop by the reception as he led the way to the end of the corridor, passing by several closed doors.

“Usually I’m only the assistant a couple times a month but their coach called me yesterday and he’s sick. So, if I hadn’t come, the class would have been cancelled,” Oikawa said, thrusting out his chest. Wakatoshi was pretty sure he was waiting for a compliment but if he only did nice things to receive them, then what was the point?

Wakatoshi just nodded and Oikawa blew a raspberry. “Remember what I told you, Ushiwaka-chan. Don’t frown and scare the kids away.”

“Yes, I should smile more, compliment them and only serve or spike without much strength,” Wakatoshi finished, repeating what he’d memorized the night before. Oikawa sent him a surprised look and he continued, “my friends told me that.”

Oikawa kept sending him the look.

“Come on, uncle!” Takeru said, apparently not noticing the tension or simply not caring, pulling onto Oikawa’s shirt.

Oikawa didn’t even turn to his nephew as he said, “why don’t you go in and make sure everyone is present? Me and Ushiwaka will be right there.”

“Okay!” Takeru said and then opened the door, leaving them without another word. Before the door fully closed, Wakatoshi could hear the excited squeals of several children.

“Do you not like children, Ushiwaka-chan?” Oikawa asked and despite the fairly amicable nickname, he had a pretty serious look on his face. Wakatoshi wasn’t fully sure why it was there but he felt like he should be careful with his words.

“I have no problem with children. I simply never spent time around them,” he answered and Oikawa blew another raspberry and crossed his arms.

“Well, your friends were right, at least,” he stared at Wakatoshi for a few more seconds before sighing and letting his arms fall by his side, “look, if you’re uncomfortable being here, you don’t have to stay. I’m sure I’ll think of something else for you to do to make me feel better.”

“No, I want to stay,” Wakatoshi said and before Oikawa could say anything else he continued, “besides, I promised Takeru to help him with his spikes.”

Oikawa didn’t answer right away, once again studying him. Wakatoshi had never been the subject of one of those looks outside a match. It was surprisingly not a bad look to have directed at him. It made Wakatoshi feel like he was suddenly really important in the world, having the undivided attention of someone, especially when that someone was Oikawa Touru.

“Well, come on, then,” Oikawa said and opened the door, stepping aside so that Wakatoshi could go in first. He did it feeling lightly, forgetting all his worries from the previous night. Oikawa had given him a way out and he hadn’t taken it. He was trusting him with the kids. Somehow it didn’t weight on Wakatoshi at all, it just made him want to prove himself worthy of that trust.

.

It didn’t take long before Wakatoshi realized that he did, in fact, quite enjoy being around children. Some of them had been shy around him in the beginning which was understandable since he was a stranger to them. But most of them had immediately asked Oikawa who he was and after barely finding out his name, had switched their attention to Wakatoshi himself.

At that, Oikawa had sent him a smirk, as if he was saying “good luck in the wolf’s den” and in truth Wakatoshi had felt a bit overwhelmed at first; there were a dozen little eyes staring at him and at least half of those were asking questions, barely waiting for an answer before asking another, sometimes speaking on top of another. But there was also something… innocent around them that Wakatoshi wanted to fiercely protect.

It had been a new feeling to have around complete strangers, but he saw how confident most of them were around him, how they were curious and wanted to learn and try new things, and he felt like he would have fought anyone that tried to change them.

So, Wakatoshi had actually found himself smiling and answering every single question, sometimes asking someone to repeat themselves, when their words got lost around everyone else, and they were already awed at the fact that he had been the ace of his high school, never mind being a nationally ranked player.

It had felt humbling, in truth. Like the smallest things were enough to be worthy of their respect and admiration.

Wakatoshi had been enjoying himself immensely since then.

“A very good trick for a setter to have is to play with their eyes,” Wakatoshi told a little girl, Aizawa Rei.

She frowned as she thought over his words and eventually sighed. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t explain myself enough,” Wakatoshi immediately started with, not wanting her to feel like she was at fault. “Have you heard of a dump set?”

Rei shook her head.

“Well, it’s when instead of setting to another player, the setter dumps the ball over the net,” Rei was still looking confused and also frustrated with herself, so Wakatoshi immediately continued, “do you want me to show you?”

Rei nodded timidly, “yes, please. But aren’t you a wing spiker?”

Wakatoshi nodded, happy that she had remembered that detail. “Yes, but before I joined a team, I practiced every role, so that I could see which one fit me better.”

Rei looked attentively at him, making him want to continue to talk. “My father taught me how to play volleyball.”

“Oh!” She said, eyes widening. “That must have been fun! My parents don’t really get volleyball but I’ve been trying to teach them the rules.”

“I’m sure you’re a great teacher,” Wakatoshi said and Rei smiled back at him, showing off a missing tooth in the front, and not as shy as before. It was such a small thing, making a child happy, yet it felt like Wakatoshi had just done something major.

“Okay, please toss me the ball,” Wakatoshi told Rei after giving her one.

She nodded seriously, like this was a matter of life or death and Wakatoshi had to stop himself from smiling at that. It hadn’t been a common feeling for Wakatoshi to get during a play, but it wasn’t completely unknown.

Rei threw the ball and probably because he was taller than the kids she was used with playing, she did with too much strength and it flew quite high, but Wakatoshi was used to jumping high as well, so it wasn’t hard to get on a good level with the ball and softly hit it to fall on the other side of the net.

Once he had both feet back on the floor, Wakatoshi turned to Rei, who was staring at the ball slowly rolling away with big eyes. Then she smiled widely and turned to Wakatoshi, “do that again!”

Before he could respond, she finished in a more demure tone, “please.”

Wakatoshi smiled, “it would be my pleasure.”

“Well, well, well, are you trying to take my spot away, Ushiwaka-chan?” Oikawa asked and Wakatoshi hadn’t noticed him walking towards them.

The kids were currently taking a break to drink some water or just sit down and Wakatoshi could hear them laughing and talking.

“You can take a break too, Rei-san,” she seemed indecisive so he continued with, “I promise I’ll show it to you again.”

“Okay! Thank you, Ushijima-san!” Rei said and then she ran back to her friends.

Wakatoshi turned back to Oikawa, who was studying his face with a serious look and he suddenly felt self-conscious, knowing that it was only then that he was dropping the smile that Rei had inspired in him.

“So, are you here for my spot?” Oikawa repeated himself and Wakatoshi immediately shook his head.

“Of course not. I really only know the basics of setting. If you want, you can teach Rei instead.”

“Oh, but didn’t you just promise her you’d do it?” Oikawa asked with a raised eyebrow and Wakatoshi felt like this was a test.

He blinked a couple times, thinking through his options. “I want her to have the best teacher.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, but he seemed to relax at Wakatoshi’s words, who felt relaxed himself at the reaction, even though he had no idea what in his words had made Oikawa feel easier.

“You’re so serious, Ushiwaka. She’s only eleven.”

“Yes, and I believe this is the period of time where we decide if we want to continue in this sport or not.”

“Oh?” Oikawa asked and Wakatoshi could see the interest rising in his eyes. It reminded him eerily of Satori. “I didn’t know you ever had doubts about that, Ushiwaka-chan.”

Wakatoshi blinked. He opened his mouth but closed it a few seconds after not saying anything. While it was true that he was a very open person, there were some things that he didn’t just go around shouting from the rooftops.

“Haven’t we all?” he finally settled on and Oikawa’s eyebrows raised.

He studied him in silence before replying and Wakatoshi was sure this was how an insect felt under a microscope. The worst was that it didn’t even feel uncomfortable; no, instead, Wakatoshi wanted to find a way to make sure Oikawa looked at him like that again.

“I guess we have.”

Oikawa continued to look at him and Wakatoshi was pretty sure that there was nothing in the world that could have made him look away. In fact, he felt like taking a step to be closer to Oikawa, like a fly wanting to be closer to flame. But, just as a the fly got burnt, so Wakatoshi was sure that doing that wouldn’t end well for him. Still, it took a surprisingly amount of effort to stay stuck to the floor, even though he didn’t even know what he was planning on doing once he was closer to Oikawa.

Maybe being close to him was goal enough.

“I’m going to get them back. While you teach Rei, I’ll teach Makoto and then we’ll have a game. Since you’re here, we can each coach a side.”

Wakatoshi nodded and Oikawa raised an eyebrow.

“Remember they’re kids, so try and leave your competitive side outside.”

“I don’t think I’m the one you should be worried about,” Wakatoshi said after a second of deliberation. Oikawa paused like he hadn’t expected that but instead of getting annoyed like Wakatoshi had feared, he just smiled.

“We’ll see about that.”

He turned and whistled at the kids, who slowly stopped what they were doing and turned to pay attention to him. Personally, Wakatoshi couldn’t imagine it any other way. Oikawa simply commanded attention wherever he went, though Wakatoshi was starting to realize that maybe that had more to do with himself than Oikawa.

.

Wakatoshi waited with Oikawa and Takeru outside the gym until every child had been collected by a parent or guardian. They all knew Oikawa by name and he knew most of them as well. Some looked strangely at Wakatoshi, but Oikawa was quick in reassuring them that he was a friend and had helped him with practice.

Once the three of them were alone, Wakatoshi turned to Oikawa. It was close to lunch time, but he didn’t want to leave.

“I have to take Takeru home,” Oikawa said and Wakatoshi nodded, though he couldn’t help how his stomach dropped at the thought that they were about to separate. “Buy me lunch after.”

Takeru didn’t even bother to raise his eyes from his phone as he snorted, “wow, no wonder you’re single if that’s how you ask someone out.”

Oikawa immediately reddened at that and Wakatoshi was transfixed by it. “I’ll have you know I’m single by choice. And anyway, I’m not asking Ushiwaka on a date! He’s paying me back for acting like a terrible human being to me all these years!”

Takure blinked at that and turned his eyes up to frown at them. “Ushijima-san isn’t a terrible human being.”

“Thank you,” Wakatoshi immediately replied, suddenly feeling lighter. Oikawa, of course, just rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be tricked just because he was nice today!”

“It is true that I have been… unfriendly towards your uncle, Takeru-kun. But I’m trying to make it better,” Wakatoshi said and both uncle and nephew turned to him. Once again, it was weird just how alike they looked and Wakatoshi suddenly remembered that when he had first met Oikawa they hadn’t been much older.

Takeru seemed to think on his words while Oikawa just continued to look surprised at him, though Wakatoshi couldn’t tell exactly what it was that he had said that had been a novelty.

“Mom always says we should be nice to everyone. But if we’re not… Then we should apologize. So it’s good that’s what you’re doing, Ushijima-san.”

“Thank you, Takeru-kun.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, back to his normal self. “Well, it’s to me that he’s apologizing, so I’ll be the judge of that, young nephew.”

Takeru rolled his eyes as he turned to Oikawa and Wakatoshi wondered if that was a habit he had picked up from Oikawa or if his mother did the same thing. “Now you’re the one not being nice.”

Takeru turned back to his phone, “not that that’s a surprise.”

Oikawa opened his mouth in shock and Wakatoshi couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t particularly loud or long, but it still made Oikawa turn to him in complete surprise. Then he started laughing too and this might just be one of the strangest experiences in Wakatoshi’s life. It was also one of the best.

Takure shook his head, “ugh, you’re both weird.”

Oikawa snorted at that and ruffled Takeru’s head, “yes, well, we’re related, so what does that make you?”

Takeru moved away from his hand and glared up, but didn’t say anything.

“Shall we go, then?” Wakatoshi said and Takure immediately started walking away. “And it would be my pleasure to buy you lunch, Oikawa.”

Oikawa turned to him and his poker face didn’t have a single crack in it for Wakatoshi to even start wondering on what he was thinking and he was starting to second-guess himself. Maybe he shouldn’t have offered in that way; he was supposed to buy Oikawa lunch to continue on his redemption path, not because… Not because he simply felt like it.

“Okay,” Oikawa finally replied and he turned his head back forward, so that he could make sure Takeru didn’t go anywhere. It took Wakatoshi several moments before he too turned away.

.

Takeru ended up not living very far from the gym so it only took them around twenty minutes walking to drop him off. During that time, Wakatoshi and Oikawa barely said two words to each other. It wasn’t unusual for Wakatoshi to spend time with someone in silence, but somehow he didn’t want the same to happen with Oikawa. He had kept stealing glances and had always found Oikawa in a pensive, serious mood.

Wakatoshi had never been as curious to know what someone was thinking as during that walk.

As they finally reached their destination, Takeru took out a key from his backpack and opened the door to go in. Before he could, Oikawa coughed, and after sighing, Takeru turned back to him. Oikawa was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Not going to thank your amazing uncle for a fantastic practice?”

Takeru rolled his eyes and Wakatoshi had to try very hard not to smile at it. He was sure Oikawa wouldn’t take it as a compliment.

“Thanks, uncle. I’ll see you next week,” Takeru said and although his voice sounded incredibly put-upon, he was smiling.

Oikawa’s eyebrow didn’t lower. “Aren’t you going to thank Ushiwaka-chan too?”

Wakatoshi couldn’t help the surprise look that appeared over his features at that. Apparently, Takeru was surprised too because he glanced at Wakatoshi before turning back to Oikawa, confused.

“You don’t like him.”

Oikawa blew a raspberry and Wakatoshi kept very still, waiting him out.

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be respectful.” Takeru opened his mouth, probably to counter, but Oikawa continued before he had a chance to speak, “I can be disrespectful to him. You can’t.”

Takeru continued to stare at Oikawa, thinking it over, before he turned to Wakatoshi and gave a quick bow.

“Thank you for helping uncle with practice.”

“You’re welcome,” Wakatoshi said and finished with a genuine, “I really enjoyed it.”

Takeru smiled at that and then approached Wakatoshi, so that there wasn’t a lot of space between them and with a finger, asked him to lower himself until they were at the same height level. Amused, Wakatoshi bended his back until he could look Takeru in the eyes.

Takeru put a hand between them and Oikawa, apparently getting ready to tell him a secret. Wakatoshi stole a quick glance at Oikawa, who just rolled his eyes at his nephew’s antics.

“You can come help again if you want. Even if uncle says no,” Takeru said in his best approach to a whisper. Wakatoshi sincerely doubted Oikawa hadn’t heard his words, yet he still smiled.

“Thank you, Takeru-kun.”

Takeru smiled and then continued, “and he wouldn’t have let you come if he didn’t like you.”

“Okay!” Oikawa interrupted, “enough secrets. What is this, is Ushiwaka your new favorite uncle?”

Takeru put his hand down and turned seriously to Oikawa, “yeah.”

Wakatoshi didn’t think he’d ever seen someone look as insulted as Oikawa did in that moment. He bowed to Takeru.

“I will try to be the best uncle to you.”

Takeru smiled at him, really big, and Wakatoshi felt happiness in his chest. Then he also felt a hand on his arm, pulling him up and away.

“I’m never introducing you to anyone ever again,” Oikawa promised, sending a mock glare to his nephew, still not letting go of Wakatoshi, who decided to keep silent about it. The touch wasn’t bothering him in the least.

Takeru stuck his tongue out, “I’ve already met all your friends.”

Oikawa continued to mock glare for a little while longer, apparently not knowing how to respond.

“I’m hungry. I’m leaving now. Have fun on your date,” Takeru said and before either could say anything in response, he turned and entered the house, closing the door after him and leaving the two of them alone.

Oikawa squeezed Wakatoshi’s arm and finally seemed to realize he was still holding onto him. As if burnt, he let go. Wakatoshi tried not to show his disappointment at that.

“Let’s go have lunch. There’s a good noodles place around,” Oikawa said, deciding to ignore everything Takeru had said. Personally, there was at least one statement that Wakatoshi would have liked to comment on, but he decided that the way things were, Oikawa would just feel attacked and it wouldn’t lead to a pleasant conversation.

The walk to the restaurant was once again silent. This time it felt uncomfortable, like Takeru not being between them had brought some sort of tension up. Wakatoshi didn’t know how to make it disappear so he just tried his best to be quiet and not do anything that would upset Oikawa.

He was starting to realize that he was in deeper than he thought and that from his friends’ comments that he hadn’t understood over the past weeks (years, really) they wouldn’t be surprised by this development at all.

“It’s here,” Oikawa finally spoke and opened the door to a nice, medium-sized restaurant. It looked family friendly and Wakatoshi wondered if he used to take Takeru here or come with him and his sister and brother-in-law. Suddenly, he had so many questions he wanted to ask to find out every single little thing about Oikawa.

They looked through their menus in silence, but once they had ordered and the menus had been taken away, there was nothing to keep their attention from each other. Wakatoshi was keeping most of his attention on remembering that this was not a date and Oikawa wouldn’t appreciate him trying anything romantic on him. The thought hurt more than he had expected.

“You said you’d thought about quitting volleyball,” Oikawa suddenly said and Wakatoshi was brought to reality.

“Yes,” he replied, wondering where Oikawa was trying to go with this.

“Why?” Oikawa simply asked, and it wasn’t like Wakatoshi wasn’t used to people trying to make friendly conversation. Yet, he didn’t think that was it. Oikawa didn’t really have any reason to go eat with him; there were a lot more milk breads that Wakatoshi could have brought him and that would have entailed a five minutes conversation, if that. This felt like him giving him a chance back.

Wakatoshi didn’t answer right away, thinking his words over. That had been a comment made in the moment, but not an untrue one.

“I don’t see the point in doing something if you don’t put your all in it.”

Oikawa shook his head amusedly at that, but somehow, he seemed to be doing it more for himself than for Wakatoshi. “So what? If you weren’t going to be the best, you were going to quit?”

“No. I was going to quit if I didn’t find it in myself to give my all. I started playing volleyball because my father taught me. He used to say that he would like me to have a relationship with volleyball,” Wakatoshi paused. That didn’t have anything to do with what Oikawa had asked; he didn’t know why he’d said that. Maybe he didn’t just want to find out more about Oikawa, but let himself be figured out as well? He cleared his throat and moved on, “as I said, that’s why I started, but not why I kept going.”

“Why did you keep going?” Oikawa asked and Wakatoshi couldn’t remember having ever been on the receiving end of that stare outside of the court.

Wakatoshi smiled, “because I love it.”

Oikawa stared for a few more seconds, before he did that shaking head thing again. “You’re really quite simple, Ushiwaka-chan.”

Wakatoshi didn’t know what to say to that. To anyone else it would probably have been sounded as an insult and he didn’t doubt that Oikawa had partly meant as it, but he thought there was something more in it too.

“I saw the game between Karasuno and Shiratorizawa,” Oikawa changed the subject and while Wakatoshi wouldn’t have minded hearing what else Oikawa thought of him, he went along with it.

“I didn’t see you,” he said, even though he hadn’t exactly paid that much attention to the stands.

“I was wearing a disguise,” Oikawa said and Wakatoshi wondered exactly what it had been.

He was silent after that but after a meaningful glance sent his way, Wakatoshi realized Oikawa was waiting on him to keep the conversation going.

“Why were you there?”

“To see the look on the faces of the team that lost,” Oikawa immediately answered and Wakatoshi just kept staring, waiting him out. “You, especially.”

“You were always sure Karasuno would win,” Wakatoshi said and while it did hurt a bit to think on the game – what could he have done for a different outcome? – he wasn’t truly upset about it anymore. It had been a good game on both their parts.

“Sure? No,” Oikawa said and Wakatoshi forced his attention back on the conversation. “But there has always been something about them… Yeah, I thought they had a very good chance of winning.”

“I didn’t,” Wakatoshi said and Oikawa rolled his eyes.

“Obviously.”

They were silent after that for a few more seconds, but once again, Wakatoshi picked the conversation back up. “So, what did you think about it?”

Oikawa frowned, “the game?”

“No. My reaction to losing.”

Oikawa blinked a couple times and then studied him in silence. Then, he leaned back on his chair. However, before he could answer, their food arrived.

They both thanked the waitress and then it was time to eat. Yet, after picking up his chopsticks, Wakatoshi just turned his attention to Oikawa, truly wanting to hear his answer, even though it was a throw of a coin whether it would leave him happy or not.

“I was disappointed,” Oikawa started, “you didn’t cry.”

It was Wakatoshi’s turn to blink. “I don’t remember the last time I cried over volleyball.”

Oikawa snorted and turned to his noodles and Wakatoshi was sure he had misstopped somewhere. “Of course you don’t.”

“It doesn’t mean that I wasn’t frustrated,” Wakatoshi said and that did make Oikawa turn his attention back to him.

“You just looked like a robot without feelings,” Oikawa said and there was a glint in his eyes that told Wakatoshi his words were meant to hurt.

“I’ve heard that before,” Wakatoshi said and Oikawa did look surprised at that, and perhaps even a bit ashamed.

Oikawa didn’t reply and instead started eating. Wakatoshi did the same, but the food didn’t taste as good as he had thought it would. Though maybe that had more to do with him than the food.

After a couple minutes in silence, Oikawa sighed after swallowing and Wakatoshi turned his attention back to him. “You’re not a robot.”

Wakatoshi felt very close to saying _“I know”_ but contrary to what most people seemed to think, he wasn’t completely unaware of social conventions, and he was sure Oikawa meant something by it than the absolute obvious.

“You’ve apologized to me, after all,” Oikawa said.

“Yes,” Wakatoshi said and then decided to continue. “When I told my friends I wanted to apologize to you, Satori asked if I was doing it for me or for you. If I wanted to make myself feel better, even if you didn’t accept the apology, or if I wanted to make you feel better about it.”

Oikawa stared at him in silence.

“I hope you know that I truly do mean my apology and that I hope to make you feel better.”

Oikawa stared for a little bit longer, Wakatoshi never turning his eyes away, before he rolled his eyes.

“I wish you were easier to hate, Ushiwaka-chan.”

Another comment by Oikawa that Wakatoshi thought could be taken a handful of times, and probably still miss at least one meaning.

Wakatoshi simply nodded at it and apparently satisfied, Oikawa went back to his food.

They finished eating in silence, but it no longer felt awkward. Instead it felt… companionable.

The bill was shared between them and then they were standing outside the restaurant, just a bit to the left of the door, so as not to interrupt people going in and out.

“You know, this wasn’t a date,” Oikawa said and Wakatoshi couldn’t help the way his heart squeezed at that.

He nodded, “I know.”

Oikawa studied him for a few seconds. Then he offered his hand for a handshake.

“I forgive you.”

It was Wakatoshi’s turn to study him. He glanced down at the hand, then back at Oikawa. Back at the hand and finally he squeezed it. The last time they had done this had been for a match. Oikawa had never tried to squeeze harder than necessary, but he always made sure to drop his hand as soon as possible, usually sending him a disgusted look.

This time, the handshake took long enough that Wakatoshi could feel Oikawa’s calluses.

They let go and this was it. There was absolutely no reason for them to see each other again, except on the off chance that they went against each other in a match during university. _“Or end up in the same university,”_ his traitorous brain thought but Wakatoshi stomped on that. It wouldn’t do to give himself false hopes.

He turned back to the conversation and started speaking, “I-“ but was quickly cut by Oikawa.

“I’m studying tomorrow with my friends.” Wakatoshi nodded, hearing the refusal for what it was. He would have felt more grateful at the fact that Oikawa hadn’t let him embarrass himself with asking him out if it didn’t feel like a rock had dropped on his stomach. “You can take me to lunch next Saturday.”

Wakatoshi blinked at Oikawa. What?

Oikawa raised an eyebrow. “Yes, on a date.”

Wakatoshi smiled and Oikawa rolled his eyes, “you’re really quite obvious, Ushiwaka-chan.”

Wakatoshi nodded because it wasn’t a lie.

“And embarrassingly honest,” Oikawa continued and Wakatoshi waited him out in silence. “But…” He took a deep breath and stared seriously at Wakatoshi, “you’ve apologized and I know you meant it so… I’ll give you a chance.” He pointed a finger towards Wakatoshi’s face. “One.”

Wakatoshi nodded, still smiling and it felt like Oikawa stared at him for a few more seconds for it. He guessed on the chances that he had smiled around his teammates after a win, Oikawa had been on the other side of court doing the opposite.

“I’ll see you next week, then. Take me somewhere nice!” Oikawa said and then he turned around and started walking away. Wakatoshi stared at his back until he took a turn and could no longer be seen before he too turned and started walking back to the dorms. It took a long time for the smile to disappear.

 


	2. Come on, come, and the world’s a little brighter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay. Hope you all enjoy this.
> 
> Thanks so much for those who read, kudoed and commented on the first chapter. This is for you.

On Sunday, Wakatoshi decided to follow Oikawa’s example and invited his friends over to his room to spend the afternoon studying. Eita, Reon and Hayato came with armfuls of books while Satori decided to leave his behind in order to carry as many snacks as possible.

“Nuh uh, don’t send me that look, Toshi. I’m no longer on the team so I can eat whatever,” was what Satori said after Wakatoshi didn’t even try to stop himself from sending him a judgmental look.

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue on a healthy diet,” Wakatoshi countered, even though he was willing to let it pass that day. Whether because he knew Satori didn’t actually eat this bad on a daily basis or because he had a date planned with Oikawa was anyone’s guess.

“La la la, I don’t care,” Satori said and dumped everything on Wakatoshi’s bed. Since it was all in bags, he didn’t mind as much, though everyone knew he didn’t accept anyone eating on his bed. It was simply unhygienic.

Wakatoshi went to seat on Reon’s left, Hayato after and Eita to his right. After choosing a peanut butter chocolate bar as his first snack, Satori sat between the two of them and also brought with him a bag of crisps, chili flavored. Eita took it with a grateful grunt.

The next couple hours were spent half in silence, with the only sounds heard being the writing on paper, and half questioning one another and helping each other with the subjects that they weren’t so good. Eita was the best at Chemistry, Hayato at Physics, Satori at Japanese and English, Reon at Maths and Wakatoshi at Natural Sciences.

As per usual, it was Satori who finally decided it was time to stop, throwing himself backwards on the floor. “If we continue to do this, I’m going to drop out of high school and join a circus.”

“What type of circus?” Wakatoshi asked while Eita snorted and said, “you’d fit right in.”

Satori put his weight on his elbows so that he could glare at Eita. Then, he turned to Wakatoshi, “I don’t know. Aren’t all circus the same? I’ve never actually been to one.”

Eita snorted again but this time didn’t say anything and no one paid him any attention. Wakatoshi shrugged.

“I went once. There was a man who breathed fire and one who threw knives at someone stuck on a wall but never hit him.”

Satori smiled, “oh, I could be a magician!”

“You should still finish high school, in case that career doesn’t work,” Wakatoshi advised and from the corner of his eyes he saw Reon amusedly shake his head.

“I guess,” Satori said in his best impression of a five-year-old and Wakatoshi couldn’t help but to give a small smile at his antics. Out of the five of them, Satori might be the one most interested in pursuing a higher education.

Reon and Eita started picking apart which books and notebooks belonged to whom – it wouldn’t be the first time that they accidentally took the wrong notebook to class – while Satori crawled to the bed, to pick up a box of Oreos.

Satori took a packet of four for himself and then threw the box at Wakatoshi, who took one for himself – it simply wasn’t possible to refuse Oreos – and passed it to Reon, who took the last three, keeping one and passing the other two to Hayato and Eita.

Once they all had one, Satori opened his and thrusted it up, like a glass of wine. “To us passing our exams with the best grades.”

Eita opened his, and while he didn’t thrust it up like Satori, he still gave his own toast, “to a good future.”

“To Shirabu not killing anyone,” Reon said after following Satori’s example.

“To us continuing to be friends,” Wakatoshi said and just for the fun of it, also raised his packet.

“I was going to say that!” Hayato exclaimed. “Ah, fine. To… I don’t know, making the best out of bad things.”

Satori blinked, “is there anything you want to tell us, Haya-chan?”

“Shut up! I just didn’t know what to say, okay? Who knew Wakatoshi would be the soppy one?” He said with a grunt, but leaned on Wakatoshi’s shoulder to take the bite off his words. Wakatoshi just smiled back at him.

“Maybe there’s a reason he’s feeling sappy,” Satori said, not moving his eyes away from Wakatoshi’s face. He opened one Oreo and licked the white cream, still staring.

Wakatoshi took his own cookie and bit into it.

“You did that just to upset me!” Satori said in a hurt tone. “Why am I surrounded by heathens.”

Eita rolled his eyes and went for his own cookie, as did the others.

“Well, come on, Wakatoshi, tell us about training with Oikawa,” Satori said and he was smiling. It didn’t look unkind but it was always a guess whether Satori had second intentions with what he said or not.

Wakatoshi cleared his throat and his friends’ attention was turned to him. “I have a date with Oikawa next week,” he said, moving his eyes to try and get all their reactions.

Satori immediately jumped up, “bingo! You owe me five hundred yen, Ei-chan!”

“Why couldn’t you have waited one more month, Wakatoshi?” Eita asked after a groan, dropping backwards to the ground, so that he was staring at the ceiling. Satori sat back down and patted his leg with a patronizing, “there, there”. Eita knocked it away.

Wakatoshi blinked, “you made a bet on this outcome?”

“Duh,” Satori immediately replied.

Wakatoshi turned to Reon, who shook his head, “I didn’t bet.”

“Yeah, ‘cuz you’re a party pooper,” Satori immediately countered, to which Reon just shrugged good naturedly.

Hayato raised a hand, “I betted you’d ask next week.”

“So how did you ask?” Satori asked once Eita and Hayato handed out the money. The later did it good naturedly, but Eita did in the midst of so much swearing it would have led to at least one practice benched if Coach heard it.

“I didn’t,” Wakatoshi said and Satori’s eyebrows rose up.

“He did?” Even Reon seemed surprised at that.

“Well…” Wakatoshi started and frowned, “he just said I was taking him on a date next week.”

Satori snorted while Eita covered his mouth with a hand so that his smile couldn’t be seen.

“Of course, he did,” Satori said, shaking his head. “But hey,” he smiled at Wakatoshi, “I’m happy for you.”

The other three nodded their agreement.

“I…” Wakatoshi paused, thinking over his words. “In hindsight, I guess me having a crush on Oikawa isn’t that big of a surprise,” he was pretty sure he was blushing.

This time, both Satori and Eita snorted, though it was Satori who spoke. “If you didn’t want to be so obvious, maybe you should have tried a different approach than little boy pulls little boy’s pig tails to get his attention.”

Wakatoshi turned away, still feeling the blush high on his cheeks. Reon and Hayato were smiling.

“It’s okay, Wakatoshi-kun,” Eita said and leaned forward to put a hand on his knee. “It worked, after all.”

Wakatoshi smiled. It hadn’t actually worked, but the apology had and he found himself far happier with that thought.

.

It was twelve forty on Saturday and Wakatoshi was five minutes early. On Wednesday he had asked Oikawa if he wanted him to go help with volleyball practice again but since the coach was back, Oikawa had said he didn’t have to come. Wakatoshi had felt half tempted to tell him “I want to” but in the end had decided that surely Oikawa and the coach had their own rhythm and he’d only be disrupting that.

Instead, he’d spent the time on his own practice. His serves were only truly good because of how strong they were since he didn’t have a lot of control over them and after a while he started hitting more against the net than anything else. So he had practiced that and was slowly improving his stamina as well. It was already very good but not at the level that the best university teams played for, and especially beyond that.

“Hello Ushiwaka-chan,” Oikawa’s voice sounded behind him and Wakatoshi turned to him.

“You look nice,” Wakatoshi immediately said, knowing that Oikawa enjoyed compliments but not feeling untruthful at all. He was wearing a nice blue button down, though it was mostly hidden by a black winter coat, beige pants and dark brown boots.

“Thank you,” Oikawa replied with a small smile, “you too.”

“Thank you,” Wakatoshi said, having had tried his best to look good as well. His outfit wasn’t that different from Oikawa’s, though his button down was white and his winter coat dark green.

“Well, shall we?” Oikawa asked with a raised eyebrow and Wakatoshi moved to open the door for him. “Such a gentleman,” Oikawa said and while his tone was mocking, he sent a smile Wakatoshi’s way that told him he appreciated the gesture.

The restaurant was a nice traditional one. It wasn’t fancy enough to require reservations or anything of the sort, but usually its occupants were all couples. It had a nice, quiet atmosphere to it. Wakatoshi had never been himself but Reon had told him it was a good place. He wasn’t disappointed.

Oikawa was looking around as well and he gave an approving glance towards Wakatoshi before asking a waitress for a table for two.

They were led to a table in a corner, the nearest people being two tables away. It felt comfy.

Before Wakatoshi could do it for him, Oikawa had already pulled his chair back and sat. Perhaps that would have been overkill, anyhow.

They were silent once they were sat. Wakatoshi was just staring at Oikawa and Oikawa was doing the same to him, slowly blinking, elbow bent on the table so that his chin was resting on the palm of his hand.

Oikawa raised an eyebrow, “well? Are we just going to sit and stare at each other? That’s a boring date.”

_Date._ Of course, Wakatoshi knew that was what they were doing, yet hearing the word from Oikawa’s lips still did things to his stomach.

Right, he forced his mind back on the game. He had one chance not to ruin this.

“I realize that this might seem forward but… I don’t like the nickname Ushiwaka.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, “yes, and pigs are pink.”

Wakatoshi decided it would be counter-productive to tell him about the pigs that were not, in fact, pink, and continued, “you can call me Wakatoshi instead, if you don’t like Ushijima.”

Oikawa blinked. “That is forward of you.”

Wakatoshi blinked back, hoping that the low lighting wouldn’t show his blushing. There was no actual reason for him to feel embarrassed, anyway. He hadn’t said anything… noteworthy.

“But okay,” Oikawa paused and then with one eyebrow raised said, “Wakatoshi.”

Seeing as Wakatoshi had never much cared for formalities and had been on first name basis with almost every teammate and even classmate since a child, he couldn’t quite understand why hearing his name from Oikawa’s mouth affected him so. Yet, he couldn’t pretend like his heart didn’t suddenly beat faster at the sound.

“If this is your way of getting me to let you call me Tooru, it’s not that ingenious,” Oikawa said and he sounded playful and Wakatoshi was ridiculously smitten.

He smiled. “That’s okay. I’d never force you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

Oikawa stared for a few seconds before rolling his eyes, though Wakatoshi was pretty sure that was a blush he could see high on his cheeks. “You’re too serious, Ushi- Wakatoshi.”

And there his heart went. Well, good thing this discovery had never been made during a match.

Wakatoshi smiled at him and Oikawa finally turned his attention to the menu, so Wakatoshi did as well. They were silent while they pondered their choices and it was only after they’d told the waitress what they were having that the conversation restarted.

“So,” Oikawa went back to having his chin on his hand, “tell me about your week.”

“Uneventful. I practiced and I studied.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, “you’re so boring. And predictable.”

Wakatoshi saw nothing wrong in that so he didn’t take it to heart. “What did you do?”

“The same,” Oikawa smiled, like he was sharing something secret. “Spent some time with my friends. But everyone is busy studying and if we do it as a group, we don’t usually get a lot done.”

“So your Sunday session didn’t go well?” Wakatoshi asked, curious.

Oikawa straighten up, leaning back on the chair. He kept the smile on, “no, we never study. It’s just an excuse.”

“What did you do, then?”

Oikawa shrugged, “played video games. Ate… Gossiped,” he smiled again and leaned forward on both elbows. “They were all curious on why I said yes to going out with you.”

Wakatoshi blinked.

“I… What did you say?”

Oikawa stared at him for some seconds, apparently studying him, or maybe just debating how much to tell before he seriously said, “that I, surprisingly, like you. You acted like a dick to me all these years but you’ve… apologized,” he rolled his eyes, “and it’s not like I didn’t know half the things you said you didn’t know how they were being said.”

“Perhaps…” Wakatoshi started and only continued when Oikawa raised an eyebrow inquiringly, “perhaps with other people, that was the case, but with you… It shames me to say but I think a part of me did know I was hurting you.” He frowned, “I think I just wanted to get under your skin… Like you did mine.”

Oikawa blinked a couple times before he groaned and covered his face with one hand, “you’re so embarrassing, Ushiwaka.”

“Wakatoshi,” he countered.

“Wakatoshi,” Oikawa repeated but it was mumbled from between his fingers. Yet, it was enough to make Wakatoshi smile.

It took a few more seconds but Oikawa finally seemed to compose himself and withdrew his hand. He looked seriously at Wakatoshi, “you can call me Tooru.”

Wakatoshi didn’t ask if he was certain. Oikawa had made his feelings clear on the subject; he wouldn’t say it was okay if he didn’t mean it. Instead, Wakatoshi simply said, “Tooru.”

Oikawa looked embarrassed again but this time he just looked away instead of covering his face. Wakatoshi felt no shame in continuing to stare.

.

After lunch – which Wakatoshi had insisted on paying – the two of them walked mindlessly for some minutes before they reached a small garden and walked in, sitting down on a bench in front of a small fountain.

Wakatoshi didn’t say anything, deciding to let Oikawa speak first. Oikawa, in his turn, was just staring at Wakatoshi. By this point it wasn’t an unusual stare, but it didn’t mean that all the attention he put into it, like Wakatoshi was a puzzle he was trying to figure out, felt completely comfortable. More like, he was afraid to be found wanting.

It wasn’t a regular feeling for Wakatoshi, yet he couldn’t find it in himself to care one little bit about it. He was sure there were many easier people to be around in a romantic environment, but Oikawa was the only one he wanted and knowing that he had to prove himself… Possibly with no end in sight… Well, it was exciting.

“I had fun,” Oikawa finally said and Wakatoshi gave him a small smile.

“I’m glad. I did too,” he replied and Oikawa rolled his eyes.

“Of course you did. I’m a wonderful person.”

“Yes, you are,” Wakatoshi said and Oikawa did that blinking thing again – like he didn’t quite know how to take Wakatoshi’s words – before he groaned and dropped his head against Wakatoshi’s shoulder.

Wakatoshi didn’t say anything and after some seconds Oikawa moved so that instead of his forehead, it was one of his ears lying on Wakatoshi’s shoulder.

“I never thought this is where I would end up,” Oikawa said and it wasn’t a whisper, but it wasn’t his normal tone either. If they weren’t sitting so close, Wakatoshi might have some trouble understanding his words.

“Me neither,” Wakatoshi replied, trying his best to speak in a low tone as well, but sure that he failed. He wasn’t used to that, even when Satori wanted him to do it while they shared horror stories. “But I’m glad I am.”

Oikawa didn’t say anything right away. Then he grabbed Wakatoshi’s hand and interlaced their fingers. He squeezed, “yeah, me too.”

Wakatoshi smiled and didn’t even bother to turn his attention away from Oikawa’s head – mostly his hair – back to the fountain. There was no doubt what sight he found most interesting.

.

It didn’t take long for Wakatoshi to realize that it had been a while since he’d felt this happy. School, volleyball, his friends, his family… They had always made him happy, but being with Oikawa… It was different from all that.

Even though they had known each other for almost half their lives, they didn’t actually know all that much about each other. Just as Wakatoshi was learning about Oikawa – like how he really did have an obsession with milk bread, how _Godzilla_ was his most watched film of all time because of Iwaizumi and how he read pretty much every Tweet by NASA – he was even learning about himself as well.

He had thought that being romantic would have more to do with Oikawa than himself – wanting to make him happy – but while that was certainly true, he also greatly enjoyed thinking of new places to take Oikawa to, sometimes bringing him chocolates or flowers, taking a walk through the sunset… He couldn’t hide he was a hopeless romantic anymore.

Oikawa didn’t seem to mind, though, so it was okay.

It had been almost a month since their first date and they had met six more times. Every date had been fun and in a different place and Wakatoshi had enjoyed every moment of it, even when Oikawa felt the need to mock him for one thing or another.

The winter holidays were about to begin and Oikawa had asked him to invite his friends for a little volleyball game on the first Saturday of no classes, since he still had access to the Aoba Josai gym.

Just as Wakatoshi was taking Satori, Reon and Eita, Oikawa was going with Iwaizumi, Hanamaki and Matsukawa. Truth be told, Wakatoshi didn’t have a lot of memories from those two and wasn’t sure he would be able to differentiate between the two of them but for once in his life, he’d left that thought unsaid.

“This must be getting serious, Wakkun,” Satori said as they walked towards the rival school. “Meeting each other’s friends and all…”

“You already know him and he knows you,” Wakatoshi countered, glancing at Satori, who moved towards him so that he was leaning his weight on Wakatoshi, who’d given up years before trying to figure out how Satori never lost his balance.

“But not as your boyfriend!” Satori whined and Wakatoshi couldn’t stop the blush from rising on his cheeks. Yes, not as his boyfriend. “Aww, are you blushing, Wakka-kun? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush…” As he said the last part, Satori touched Wakatoshi’s cheek with a finger. Wakatoshi accepted the poke in silence for a couple seconds before moving away so that Satori dropped his finger.

“Stop being annoying, Satori. It’s not like Oikawa and his friends don’t already hate you,” Eita said and Satori pouted.

“Everyone hates me.”

Wakatoshi frowned, “that’s not true.”

Satori looked at him with his big eyes in silence for some seconds before his face broke in a big smile, “yeah, I know. But in volleyball… It’s not like rival players are your biggest fans either.”

Wakatoshi shrugged. There was nothing he could really do about it.

They were silent the rest of the way, everyone knowing the way to the gym without problems, even though they had barely been there before.

As they came closer, the sound of more than one volleyball being hit around could be heard. Wakatoshi couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face at that; even though this was just friends playing against one another, he couldn’t pretend that it didn’t feel good to play against someone else again.

He turned to his friends and saw similar looks on their faces, a bit nostalgic too and it wasn’t like Wakatoshi hadn’t know that their game against Karasuno would be the last one they’d play together, but it suddenly hit harder that they really would never be in the same team again.

Reon put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He’d always been the one most aware of how others felt, even without anything being said.

“Come on, let’s not keep them waiting,” Satori said and pushed the door, being the first to walk in.

Eita went next and after letting go, Reon and Wakatoshi followed him in.

Oikawa and his friends had all stopped what they were doing to look at them. Suddenly, Wakatoshi thought that maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. No one at Aoba Josai seemed to have good memories about playing against them. Maybe they should have gone to the cinema instead? You couldn’t talk in there and afterwards you just discussed the film.

The one with the pointy black hair, kind of similar to Iwaizumi’s, finally snorted and turned to Oikawa.

“I told you Semi-kun was the prettier setter.”

Wakatoshi blinked. He turned to Eita and possibly for the first time ever, could see a blush rise on his cheeks.

“Oh oh oh, discussing the prettiest setters, are we?” Satori asked, immediately jumping into the conversation and the guy who’d spoken turned with a smile to him. He couldn’t say there wasn’t something a bit predatory about it. Of course, Satori just gave as good as he got.

“Yes. We asked Iwaizumi who he thought was the prettiest setter and he said it was Semi Eita from Shiratorizawa.”

Oikawa crossed his arms, “he just did it to annoy me.” He stuck his tongue out at Iwaizumi, but Iwaizumi wasn’t looking his way, instead at Eita, and he too looked a bit embarrassed.

“We both agreed with him,” the guy with the light brown hair said and smirked at Oikawa, who pouted.

“I think you’re the prettiest, Tooru,” Wakatoshi finally said but he turned to Eita after, not letting himself focus on Oikawa’s look of surprise, “but you’re very pretty as well, Eita.”

Eita groaned and hid his face in his hands.

“I don’t know… Shirabu has some charm as well,” Satori said and there was a smile there that told Wakatoshi he was just trying to stir up trouble. Wakatoshi decided to keep a close eye on him but everyone seemed relaxed.

Oikawa snorted, “not with that hair cut.”

Satori looked shocked at Oikawa, even going as far putting a hand against his chest. “How dare you? I must fight for my kouhai’s honor.”

It was Eita’s turn to snort, finally dropping his hands. “He’ll fight you if you fight for him.”

“Shirabu would never fight,” Reon said, “he’d just find a way to get you in trouble.”

“It’s not like Satori needs any help there,” Eita said, rolling his eyes.

“So,” the guy with the light brown hair intervened again and Wakatoshi swore to himself to pay attention to find out their names, “is no one going to mention how Ushijima-kun called Oikawa by his first name?”

Satori smiled his trouble making smile again and put an arm over Wakatoshi’s shoulders, “I didn’t want to embarrass the love birds.”

The two Aoba Josai guys Wakatoshi didn’t know the name smirked at Satori and Wakatoshi was sure they’d suddenly found kindred souls in one another. He doubted it would end well.

“I thought we came here to play volleyball?” Oikawa asked, but there was no hiding the blush on his cheeks.

Wakatoshi nodded, “yes. Is there a place we can change?”

Oikawa and his friends were already dressed in workout clothes: t-shirts and shorts – none with the Aoba Josai  symbol on it – but Wakatoshi and his friends were still wearing their normal clothes.

“Follow me,” Oikawa said and turned to the right, where a door was.

“Oh oh oh, are you sure you don’t just want Wakkun to follow you?” Satori asked and most of the guys around them snorted. Oikawa paid him no mind so Wakatoshi just sent a look towards Satori, who put both hands up in the universal symbol of innocence.

Even Wakatoshi wasn’t naïve enough to believe the act.

Oikawa opened the door to the changing rooms and everyone went in ahead of Wakatoshi. As he passed by Oikawa, he grabbed his hand and gave a quick squeeze before letting go. Wakatoshi turned surprised to him and Oikawa gave him a small smile.

Wakatoshi smiled back before entering the changing room. He didn’t know why, but the four of them had foregone the Shiratorizawa logo as well. It hadn’t just been not wanting to raise waves by showing up at Aoba Josai with it, more like it was… well, a new beginning. Playing without being part of a team; just for fun with friends.

It wasn’t an unwelcome feeling in the least.

It didn’t take long before the four of them were ready and went back to the gym, Oikawa having already gone ahead. Once they were inside, they started stretching.

“You know, I say we make this interesting,” Satori said with his hands raised towards the ceiling. Although Oikawa and his friends had gone back to easy volleyball exercises, Satori’s voice carried enough that they stopped to hear him out. “I wanna be the setter.”

Eita turned to him before he smiled, “then I’m going to be a wing spiker.”

Reon turned to Wakatoshi with a raised eyebrow. Wakatoshi shrugged, “I’ll be the libero, then.”

Satori smiled.

“Mattsun, you wanna be setter?” Iwaizumi asked, turning to the one with the black hair.

“Hey, don’t offer my position like that!” Oikawa said with a pout but in true Iwaizumi fashion, his best friend just ignored him.

“Does this mean I get to be in the race for prettiest setter?” The guy – Mattsun – asked with a smirk and Eita’s blush was back. Wakatoshi was kind of fascinated by it. It wasn’t often that one got to see Eita anything but in control of himself.

“You win, hands down,” his light brown-haired friend and smirked himself, “but I dunno if Iwa-chan will agree with me.”

“I’m going to be the libero,” Iwaizumi said, smartly ignoring his friend. “Makki, you and Oikawa will be the wing spikers.”

They both nodded.

“Who starts?” Iwaizumi asked and it was Reon who answered.

“You invited us, so you start.”

“Thank you,” Iwaizumi said and they moved to the part of the court furthest from the main doors. Wakatoshi and his friends went to the other half.

Iwaizumi was the first to serve and then the game was on.

It wasn’t like Wakatoshi hadn’t had to practice receiving like everyone on the team… Yet it was true that it had never been one of his best areas and that more often than not, it was more luck than anything else that got the ball back in the air instead of on the floor.

The game ended when Wakatoshi received one of Oikawa’s spikes with his face and Satori started laughing and eventually they all followed suit. Wakatoshi was a bit too busy touching his nose to make sure nothing was broken to join in.

When he pulled his hand down, Oikawa was in front of him, staring seriously at him.

“Are you okay?” He moved his own hand to touch Wakatoshi’s nose, who couldn’t help the small flinch at it. The nose hadn’t broken, but that didn’t stop it from hurting. A spike to the face was never fun. “Sorry,” Oikawa muttered, and he looked truly repetend.

How one day he would have looked victorious at having hurt Wakatoshi seemed like a far distant memory.

“It’s okay,” Wakatoshi said and forced himself not to move as Oikawa finished checking him over. “Accidents happen.”

Oikawa was still frowning so Wakatoshi put a hand on top of his, pulling it down from his face and squeezing. “It’s fine.”

“I’m going to throw up,” Satori said and the two of them jumped, having forgotten that they weren’t alone. The rest of the guys were all staring at them, mostly amused, “you two are ridiculously cute.”

Iwaizumi snorted, “imagine if they had gotten together when we still had to play each other.”

“Let me see your hand, Wakatoshi. It must hurt from all your spiking,” Satori said in what was a poor imitation of Oikawa’s voice, who in turn tried to let go of Wakatoshi’s hand, but he didn’t let him.

“Let me bandage your fingers and kiss them better,” Makki said and made kissing noises. Wakatoshi started with a small smile at that but eventually he couldn’t stop from laughing.

It was more of a bark of laughter than anything else, but when he stopped everyone at Aoba Josai was staring at him like they had never seen him before, while Oikawa rolled his eyes at him.

“You broke them,” he said in an accusing tone.

“I’ve never heard him laugh,” Iwaizumi said, more in a wondering tone than anything else.

“Or seen him smile,” Mattsun said and Satori snorted at that.

“Don’t worry, Wakatoshi doesn’t laugh that much even with us. It’s a precious event when it happens.”

Eita nodded, “yes, we try and take photos but usually they’re all blurry or he’s already stopped.”

Wakatoshi didn’t say anything, remembering in second year when most of the team had decided to hold a contest to see who would get him to laugh first. Satori had won in the end, finding out that Wakatoshi had a soft spot for incredibly stupid jokes.

Iwaizumi, Makki and Mattsun stared at the three of them before Iwaizumi shook his head and Makki and Mattsun smiled at each other.

“You guys are alright,” Mattsun finally declared and Satori put a hand against his chest, bowing like one saw in old regency films.

“Why thank you, kind sir.”

Mattsun copied his movements, “you’re most welcome, sir.”

Oikawa squeezed Wakatoshi’s hand, who had forgotten they were still holding hands, making him turn his attention back to him. Oikawa smiled and Wakatoshi could almost hear the words _“we’re going to be just fine”_. It took a surprisingly amount of effort to stop himself from kissing his forehead or anything else that would get them more mocking.

It was more the thought that he would embarrass Oikawa than himself that stopped him in the end.

“Come on, let’s stretch,” Iwaizumi said and Satori pretty much threw himself on the floor. Iwaizumi, Mattsu and Makki left their side of the court so that they were all sitting close by and everyone started doing their stretches, Wakatoshi and Oikawa having let go of another.

“Are you going to continue playing, Iwaizumi-kun?” Reon asked and Iwaizumi looked surprised at being addressed. He shrugged.

“Probably not in the university team but maybe for a local gym. I have to focus on my studies.”

“What are you going to study?” Wakatoshi asked, grabbing onto his toes.

“Physical therapy,” Iwaizumi answered, sharing a quick look with Oikawa.

“Me too,” Oikawa said, not surprising Wakatoshi, who had already known. “But I’m going to keep playing in Tokyo.”

Satori rolled his eyes, “of course, you’ve already had offers, no?”

Oikawa nodded and smiled, proud of himself. Again, Wakatoshi felt a surge of emotion in his chest at his look.

“And you, Tendo?” Iwaizumi asked and Satori raised an eyebrow.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He let the pause linger for some seconds before dramatically declaring, “I’m going to be a lawyer.”

“I can see that,” Makki said while Mattsun nodded.

“And you, Ushijima? You’ve must had offers from Tokyo as well,” Iwaizumi said and Wakatoshi felt most of his friends send a quick glance his way.

“I’m still pondering my options,” he settled on and noticed that Oikawa sent him a look as well, probably noticing the attention his friends gave him at the question. They could talk about it later.

The rest of Aoba Josai seemed to take him at his word and continued to talk about their futures. Only Oikawa and Wakatoshi were planning on continuing volleyball since everyone else wanted to focus on their studies. It wasn’t all that surprising; Wakatoshi had already known about Satori, Eita and Reon. Yet, it didn’t stop a wave of nostalgia hitting him once again.

He did wonder what would have happened if he had gone about talking to Oikawa after their games differently. If he would already know Mattsun’s and Makki’s names instead of their nicknames and how Iwaizumi had gone with Oikawa to most of his doctor’s appointments about his knee and so had gained an interest in physical therapy.

Wakatoshi decided that it was enough to be finding these things now and that he would do his best to continue that way. He had come to this game because of Oikawa wanting all their friends to meet but he realized that he was having fun, in the midst of his oldest friends, his boyfriend and his hopefully new friends.

.

On Monday, Wakatoshi and Oikawa went out for dinner. So far they had only met during daylight, so it was a different experience to do it during the night, when there was less natural light to see each but the artificial light making shadows move in each other’s faces.

Oikawa looked like someone straight out a fairy tale and the sight, the light playing on his face, the smile he’d met Wakatoshi with, made his heart squeeze.

Wakatoshi was absolutely and ridiculously smitten. He didn’t feel an ounce of shame for that.

“You’re staring,” Oikawa said and it was impossible to say if he was blushing or not.

“I was thinking about the debate of Saturday.”

“Uh?” Oikawa frowned, not following his train of thought.

Wakatoshi grabbed his hand and interlocked their fingers, “you’re tremendously pretty.”

Oikawa blinked, then he looked away. He tried to take his hand away from Wakatoshi’s hold, but when that didn’t happen he just used his free one to cover his face, “you’re so embarrassing, Wakatoshi.”

“Why? I’m just stating the truth.”

Oikawa didn’t lower his hand completely, but he did make a space between his fingers so that Wakatoshi could see his eyes rolling, “maybe to you. I’m sure not everyone thinks I’m pretty.”

“I doubt that. But it may be true that not everyone thinks you’re the most handsome man they’ve ever seen like I do.”

Oikawa squeezed his eyes shut and put a hand against his mouth, muffling his scream into it. The hand that Wakatoshi was still holding, was moving around. Wakatoshi smiled at the sight; while he had not lied in the least, perhaps he had said that to embarrass Oikawa just a little bit.

“Why are you like this? You’re going to kill me,” Oikawa mumbled, having gone back to hiding his whole face behind his hand and not just his mouth.

Wakatoshi squeezed his hand, “please don’t.”

Oikawa didn’t respond right away. He took a deep breath and finally lowered his hand. He glared at Wakatoshi, “you’re embarrassing.”

Wakatoshi blinked, “would you like me to stop complimenting you?”

Oikawa looked away before he sighed, “no. But a heads up would be good!”

“But then I would miss your cute reaction.”

“Ah ha! I knew you were trying to embarrass me,” Oikawa loudly proclaimed and Wakatoshi smiled. Then he lowered his head and kissed him on the cheek.

“Maybe just a little bit.”

Oikawa blinked at him a few times and since Wakatoshi hadn’t leaned completely back, this time he did see how brightly he was blushing.

“Let’s just go in,” Oikawa said and started leading them towards the restaurant Wakatoshi had booked a table for them.

It wasn’t a particularly fancy restaurant; they hadn’t had to dress in formal clothes or anything of the sort, but it was a highly popular one and he hadn’t wanted them to be turned away if it turned out to be full.

They were taken to their table right after he gave them his name and Wakatoshi gave the restaurant a quick glance over before his attention was turned to Oikawa, who was doing his inspection much slower. He had a happy and relaxed look on his face.

They’d let go of each other’s hand as they’d gone in, but now Wakatoshi couldn’t help himself but to put a hand on top of the one Oikawa had on the table. The touch made Oikawa turn his attention to him. He smiled and Wakatoshi’s heart squeezed again.

Sometimes, it scared him just how fast he had fallen for Oikawa. How much it would hurt if they lost what they had and just exactly what he could do to be the reason for that but mostly he just felt really happy to be given a chance to experience something this great.

Wakatoshi was pretty sure Oikawa was the love of his life, as corny as that was. One day he would tell him that.

They were handed the menus and Wakatoshi didn’t let go of Oikawa’s hand, instead playing with his fingers.

After they had ordered and the menus had been taken back, Oikawa stared at Wakatoshi, who just stared back. He didn’t mind silences and once Oikawa had grown comfortable enough in his presence, he didn’t either.

“Do you remember when we were talking about our futures on Saturday?” Oikawa asked and Wakatoshi couldn’t help but to squeeze his hand in surprise. Oikawa sent him a look like the gesture hadn’t gone unnoticed by him.

“Yes,” Wakatoshi answered, waiting for the continuation.

“Why did your friends send you a look after Iwa-chan asked what were you were going next year?”

Wakatoshi studied him for a few seconds, before starting his answer, “when I was ten, my parents got divorced and my father moved to the US. He’s the volleyball coach to an university there.”

Oikawa blinked, “he’s asked you to go there.” Wakatoshi didn’t know what hurt more: how Oikawa looked suddenly unsure of himself, how his voice came out barely above a whisper or how he tried to pull his hand back, though to that, Wakatoshi just held on.

“He has,” Wakatoshi replied.

They were quiet after that. Wakatoshi’s thoughts were whirling inside his head but he had no idea where to start and he knew he had just pretty much dropped a bomb on Oikawa, so he decided to let him think it through.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Oikawa asked and this time, he gave a strong enough pull to his hand that Wakatoshi knew holding on would just make him angrier.

“I… I don’t know.”

“This can’t have come as a surprise, right? I mean, he must have brought this up before this year,” Oikawa said and his voice had a higher tilt to it. He’d told Wakatoshi just some weeks before that it happened whenever he was nervous or angry and that he hated it, not being able to hide his emotions.

Wakatoshi wanted to hug him and make him feel better but that was hard to do when he was the one that had messed up.

“Yes, he talked about it last year,” Wakatoshi started, knowing that honesty was the only policy to follow right now. “I haven’t made a decision.”

Oikawa clenched his jaw and opened his mouth, but before he said anything, he suddenly deflated and passed a hand through his face. He lowered it to speak, but was staring at the table cloth, “I want to say, “don’t you think I should be a part of that decision?” but that would be incredibly selfish of me, wouldn’t it? We’ve only been dating for a few months, I shouldn’t intrude on your future.”

“I want you to,” Wakatoshi immediately replied and Oikawa turned his eyes to him, “I want you to be a part of my future. For… for as long as you’ll have me.”

Wakatoshi wasn’t sure what he had expected to be Oikawa’s reaction, but it certainly wasn’t for his eyes to fill with tears and then get up and power walk away from their table.

It took barely a blink for Wakatoshi to follow, absently thinking that he’d have to go back to pay for their uneaten food.

Oikawa was still walking fast but it didn’t take long before Wakatoshi ran up to him, grabbing his arm and making him turn around. People kept walking around them but he barely paid them any attention.

Oikawa sniffled and he saw there were tear tracks on his cheeks. He wiped them away with his fingertips. Wakatoshi hugged him. He wanted to say something to make Oikawa feel better, but he also didn’t want to say the wrong thing, so he decided to let Oikawa speak first.

Oikawa let go, “there’s a park nearby. Can we go and sit?”

Wakatoshi nodded and Oikawa turned and led the way. It physically hurt Wakatoshi to stop himself from holding Oikawa’s hand.

The park wasn’t far at all and soon the both of them were sitting, their thighs touching. They turned to face each other, and it wasn’t a comfortable position for their necks at all, but Wakatoshi didn’t give a damn.

“You… You make me feel like…” Oikawa stopped and finished in a whisper, “like I’m the most special person you’ve ever met.”

Wakatoshi blinked. He did feel that way but he wasn’t sure a confirmation was what Oikawa was looking for, so he kept silent.

“I don’t know if I’m worth it. I don’t know if I make you feel the same way. And I don’t… I don’t want to trap you, but I also don’t want to let you go,” Oikawa started crying, “I feel really selfish.”

“Tooru,” Wakatoshi started. He grabbed his hand but waited for Oikawa not to pull it back to envelop it in his own, “you make me feel happy. I’ve never doubted of your feelings for me because I know you wouldn’t be with me if you didn’t want to.” He paused, not knowing the best way to express himself. Oikawa was staring at him attentively. There were still tears falling from his eyes, so Wakatoshi leaned closer and used his free hand to wipe them away.

“I’m scared that you’re going to grow bored of me. I’m… simple, like you say. I like simple things and I say what I feel and I’m not… surprising or difficult to figure out. I’m not a puzzle.” Wakatoshi stared seriously at him, “and you are. I’m always finding out new things about you and I love that. But I don’t-“

“On Saturday I found out what your face looks after being hit with a ball, today I found out that you like to make me blush and last week that you’ve never seen Star Wars. I’m always finding out new things about you, Wakatoshi, and I love that too. And I don’t… I don’t want someone that I can’t figure out or that I’m always doubting. I like that you’re simply and easy to be around. I don’t doubt your feelings either.” Oikawa had stopped crying and he smiled, but it dropped quickly, “but I don’t know if our feelings for each other are enough to start making really big decisions about our futures. My life is here and I’m not going to America with you.”

“I know,” Wakatoshi said.

“And I’m not going to ask you to stay. Not for me,” Tooru seriously said and this time Wakatoshi didn’t reply right away.

“I don’t want to stay just for you. I know that that would be putting too much pressure on you, on us, and that it wouldn’t be healthy, anyway. But I can’t stop thinking that me going will ruin what we have. And I really don’t want that.”

Oikawa took a deep breath. He moved his hand around so that instead of being held by Wakatoshi’s, they now had their fingers interlocked. “Long distance relationships aren’t easy but for you, I’ll try. I’m not giving you up.”

Wakatoshi put his forehead against Oikawa’s and whispered, “I’m not giving you up either.”

 

 

ONE YEAR LATER

Wakatoshi thought that surely there should be an easier way to collect his suitcase than waiting around for all of them to slowly roll around. Maybe give them a coupon to collect them? No, that would probably last even longer. To be fair, this wouldn’t be such a bad way of doing things if they weren’t taking so long to let the first bag out and everyone waiting had already been on a plane for over ten hours. The least they deserved was to have their bags returned quickly.

Wakatoshi sighed and pressed a thumb and forefinger on either side of his nose. He was tired and grumbling. He reminded himself that it wasn’t the workers’ fault that the plane had been so small, he genuinely would have been able to sit with his legs crossed on top of the tray if he was more flexible. The ride hadn’t been particularly bumpy but he hadn’t been able to fall asleep and had instead watched three and a half films.

And now couldn’t for the life of him even remember the second one’s name. It was just a blank space in his mind. He really was tired.

The first bag finally came out and Wakatoshi heard several people around him sigh in relief. He stopped himself from doing the same but couldn’t help but move around on his feet. He really wanted to just go for a run to get his circulation back to normal or go to bed and sleep until it was night.

The last one would just make it take even more time for him to get used to the time difference so spending the day not sleeping was the way to go. Of course, since he planned it on spending it with Tooru, to say it would be a wasted day would be a major insult.

Thinking of Tooru made Wakatoshi smile and suddenly having been awake for over a day, counting the time difference, didn’t seem so bad.

Wakatoshi’s suitcase came out when around half the people around him already had theirs and had left. He grabbed it and quickly went to find the exit, remembering the last time he’d done the trip, over four months before.

It wasn’t long before he was surrounded by hundreds of people looking for their loved ones. Wakatoshi barely had to look around before he heard his name being yelled.

He turned around and had to let go of his suitcase to hold onto Tooru, who had jumped him and was now holding onto him, full weight on him, legs in the air. Wakatoshi just held onto him with as much strength and then they were kissing.

Wakatoshi wasn’t usually one for PDA outside hand holding and hugs, but just this once – and the two previous time he’d done this trip and been received like this – he ignored everyone around him.

The kiss, which started with too much strength on both sides, quickly softened and Wakatoshi sighed against Tooru’s lips. He’d missed him so much.

Tooru was the first to pull back and he dropped back to the floor, though neither made any move to let go. Wakatoshi should probably check that no one had stolen his suitcase but his wallet with his documents was on the pocket of his jacket so he couldn’t care less.

Tooru was smiling brightly, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Wakatoshi replied and smiled back. “A lot.”

Tooru’s smile increased but he didn’t reply, probably debating whether he wanted to be mocking or sentimental. Wakatoshi just continued to smile at him. Some things he still didn’t fully understand in Tooru, but this look he was used to receiving.

“Come on,” Tooru finally settled on and let go, moving so that he was standing by Wakatoshi’s side instead of in front. With one hand, he took hold of the suitcase, while with the other he took Wakatoshi’s hand and interlocked their fingers.

They were silent as they left the airport. There were too many people around to have any type of important conversation, anyhow, and they’d gotten to a point where silence was quite comfortable. That didn’t mean, of course, that Wakatoshi wasn’t looking forward to hearing everything that Tooru had to tell him, even if it was about the new socks he’d bought, but for now, just being able to touch him was enough.

They took a taxi back to Tooru’s place. Usually neither would go for the most expensive choice when buses and the metro were available, but it really was the fastest way to get anywhere and just this once, it was worth it.

It took around twenty minutes to get to the apartment and Wakatoshi could feel his eyelids dropping, even though he’d promised himself the correct choice was to spend the day awake to get used to the time difference as fast as possible. But perhaps one small nap wouldn’t be so bad…

“Come on, sleepyhead. Time to go in,” Tooru said in a soft tone, and the way he shook Wakatoshi awake wasn’t harsh either.

“I wasn’t sleeping,” Wakatoshi mumbled and received a humming sound in reply. Tooru paid for the taxi, ignoring Wakatoshi trying to get his wallet out, and then they were outside.

Wakatoshi took a deep breath and looked around. Despite having traveled to Tokyo almost half a dozen times per year since he’d started truly dedicating himself to volleyball, he still didn’t know the capital that well. Still, it was home.

“Come on,” Tooru urged and took his hand, leading the way. The door to the building wasn’t locked until the sun set so they just went in and went for the lift, since Tooru and Iwaizumi shared a flat on the fifth floor. Usually Wakatoshi didn’t mind taking the stairs, but he was tired and had a suitcase with him.

He leaned against Tooru.

It wasn’t a long trip up and before long they were both taking off their shoes at the entrance to the apartment.

It was a really nice place. It wasn’t as close to the university as Tooru and Iwaizumi would have wanted, but further away had meant a cheaper price so they’d decided it was worth it. They each had their own room and a shared bathroom and although the kitchen and living room where connected, it was a pretty spacious living area.

“Do you want to stay in or go out for lunch?”

“It’s only,” Wakatoshi turned to his watch, having changed the time halfway through the trip, “eleven am.”

“I know, but if you want to stay in, then I have to start preparing things,” Tooru said, turning to him with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you mean, going shopping?” Wakatoshi asked and didn’t even try to hide his smile.

“Rude! Who do you think I am? I’m a great boyfriend! I already went shopping, for your information,” Tooru exclaimed and Wakatoshi chuckled.

“I know. You are,” he took Tooru’s hand, who looked surprised but pleased, and led them to the sofa. He sat first and tried to pull Tooru to sit by his side, but Tooru being Tooru, decided his lap was a comfier option. He just sent an innocent look Wakatoshi’s way, sitting sideways so that his legs were stretched by the sofa’s arm.

“We can out for food. To celebrate,” Wakatoshi started and Tooru frowned.

“Celebrate? Celebrate what?”

“I’m moving here,” Wakatoshi said and Tooru’s frown deepened.

“What do you mean, here?”

“Here, to Tokyo. I’ve transferred schools. That’s why I arrived before the year in the US finished. I had to deliver some assessments earlier to make it but… That’s why I couldn’t skype so much for the last two months.”

Tooru was just staring at him.

“You’re… You’re not going back to America?”

Wakatoshi shook his head, slowly, so that he didn’t have to take his eyes away from Tooru.

“Why didn’t you tell me!?” Tooru asked and hit him on the arm. It didn’t exactly hurt but it wasn’t a soft love tap either.

“I was going to. You know I don’t love surprises, but Satori said it would be more romantic to keep it hushed and everyone agreed with him… Even Iwaizumi.”

“Iwa-chan knew!?” Tooru asked and although he was clearly trying to sound angry, he couldn’t stop smiling. “Betrayed by my best friend. What has the world gotten to,” he shook his head sadly, but once again the smile didn’t go anywhere.

“Did it work?”

“What?” Tooru asked with a raised eyebrow, putting both arms around Wakatoshi’s neck, who moved one hand to his back, making sure he didn’t fall back.

“Was it a big romantic surprise?”

Tooru looked at him intensively. “Yeah, it was.”

“I’m glad, then.”

“But I still can’t believe Iwa-chan knew first!” Tooru hit his arm again.

“Semi told him and then he messaged me. I think he called you a sap and a romantic.”

Tooru rolled his eyes, “as if he can talk.”

Wakatoshi smiled and put his other arm around Tooru. He didn’t really want to talk about Iwaizumi’s romantic life.

Tooru kept silent for a little bit too and they just stared at each other’s eyes. Well, Tooru certainly wasn’t the only sappy one in the relationship.

“I love you,” Tooru said and it wasn’t the first time he’d said it but it still put Wakatoshi’s heart into overdrive.

“I love you too,” he said and the words didn’t feel like nearly enough for what he felt for Tooru. But he’d never been all that good with words and gestures had always worked better for him, so he just kissed Tooru.

 


End file.
